PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley has given up his ownership stake in Polymarket, saying NFL rules no longer let players hold a piece of prediction-market companies.
Barkley said the league briefs players ahead of every season on which endorsements and investments are off limits, and that prediction markets now fall on the banned side. He acknowledged he had been invested before the change.
League officials on Wednesday affirmed that players may not invest in or promote sportsbooks and prediction markets, though they would not discuss Barkley’s case directly.
Barkley has built a reputation as an active startup investor. A 2025 profile reported he had put more than $500,000 into young companies, a list that included Anthropic, Neuralink and Polymarket.
Football stands apart from other major leagues on this question. The NBA, Major League Baseball, the NHL and MLS each have business ties with Kalshi, Polymarket or both, and the NBA named the two its preferred prediction market partners this week. Earlier this month the league petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether sports-event contracts on those platforms belong under state gambling regulators.
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