CFTC Submits Two Rulemakings on Event Contracts to White House Review

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has sent two rulemakings to the White House for review. The submissions, dated September 28, 2026, pertain to event contracts and their classification as swaps or derivatives. One filing proposes that event contracts be defined as swaps, while the other excludes 'casino-style gambling products' from this definition.

The CFTC has maintained that event contracts typically fit within the swap framework and has asserted exclusive jurisdiction over prediction markets. However, several states have challenged prediction-market operators under gambling laws, raising questions about the boundary between derivatives and gambling.

The rulemakings are marked 'Pending Review' and 'Not Economically Significant,' but their full text has not been publicly released. This means that the definitions and legal reasoning behind the proposals remain unclear.