CFTC proposes defining event contracts as swaps and excludes casino-style gambling

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission published two linked rules on 9 October 2026. One proposes adding event contracts, including those based on sports, politics, cultural and weather-related events, to the definition of a swap. The other, an interim final rule, writes into the same definition the CFTC’s long-held position that casino-style gambling products are not swaps.

The proposal on event contracts

The notice of proposed rulemaking would amend the definition of a swap in section 1.3 of the CFTC’s regulations by adding a new item to the list of instruments it expressly covers: event contracts, including those based on sports, politics, cultural and weather-related events.

The CFTC says these contracts are financial instruments commonly known to the trade as swaps, and that the change is meant to resolve any ambiguity about them. Chairman Michael S. Selig said the products are commodity derivatives within the agency’s exclusive jurisdiction under the Commodity Exchange Act.

The exclusion for casino-style gambling

The interim final rule adds a separate paragraph to the same definition. It excludes an agreement or transaction from being a swap when it is offered by a person licensed to offer gambling or accept wagers under state law, or under tribal law through the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, acting within that licence and regulated as gambling under that law, and when it is not traded on a board of trade, an exchange, a swap execution facility or any other multilateral market.

Subject to those conditions, the rule names three groups as excluded: sports wagers accepted by a licensed sportsbook, casino table games, slot machines and other electronic gaming devices, and other licensed games of chance such as bingo, pool wagering, lotteries and raffles.

“Casino-style gambling products are not derivatives,” Selig said.

What it means for traders and platforms

Taken together, the two rules draw a line between event contracts, which the CFTC treats as derivatives under its oversight, and wagers taken by state- or tribe-licensed operators off exchange, which it leaves outside the swap definition. Exchanges listing event contracts, the brokers and apps that give retail customers access to them, and licensed sportsbooks all fall on one side of that line or the other. Both texts were released as approved by the Commission, subject to technical corrections before publication.

What happens next

The interim final rule takes effect on the day it is published in the Federal Register. For both documents, written comments must reach the CFTC through Regulations.gov within 30 days of their Federal Register publication.