UPDATED: NBA Announces Partnerships with Kalshi and Polymarket, Plus Expanded DraftKings Partnership
By Robert Linnehan in Industry
Published:
- The NBA today announced new partnerships with both Kalshi and Polymarket
- The partnership names Kalshi and Polymarket as preferred prediction market operators of the NBA
- The NBA and CFTC today announced a memorandum of understanding to protect integrity of professional basketball in prediction markets
The NBA today announced a new partnership with Kalshi and Polymarket, naming the companies as preferred prediction market exchanges of the league.
Additionally, the NBA and Commodity Futures Trading Commission today agreed to better share information and improve communication to protect the integrity of professional basketball in prediction markets.
The agreements with Kalshi and Polymarket will run for multiple years, according to several reports.
UPDATE: The NBA has also agreed to an expansion of its partnership with DraftKings to include its prediction market service.
Preferred Exchanges of NBA
The NBA’s partnership with Kalshi and Polymarket is the first of its kind between the league and prediction market companies. The league is now partnered directly with the two largest prediction market companies in the world during a time when the regulatory and legal battlefields are heating up.
Kalshi confirmed the agreement in a press release today, noting the new deal will bring official NBA data to Kalshi’s basketball sports event contracts and establish direct collaboration with the league on market integrity, consumer protections, and athlete safety.
We’re excited to see the NBA engage directly in shaping this future. Safe, responsible innovation requires leagues, exchanges, and regulators to work together. With this partnership, we’re putting that collaboration into practice: official data, stronger integrity protections, and an open marketplace where fans set the prices,” A Kalshi spokesperson noted in the release.
According to ESPN, both Kalshi and Polymarket will now receive access to official league data for its sports event contracts and intellectual property rights to use marks and logos on their sites and marketing.
CFTC, NBA Memorandum of Understanding
The Commodity Future Trading Commission (CFTC) and NBA today also signed a memorandum of understanding, agreeing to share information through regular communication to discuss matters related to integrity of professional basketball, as well as maintaining fair and transparent prediction markets.
The NBA and CFTC’s memorandum of understanding is not a binding rule or regulation, but instead an understanding to share information or concerns when identified to protect game integrity of professional basketball.
The memorandum establishes a framework between the CFTC and NBA to discuss, cooperate, and exchange information concerning issues of common interest, which include protecting the integrity of professional basketball and related prediction markets.
“I’m pleased the CFTC and NBA signed an MOU which continues the Commission’s commitment to increasing data sharing between the agency and professional sports leagues,” CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig said in a press release. “The NBA joins the MLB and NHL in taking a responsible step toward protecting sports integrity and market participants from abuses in prediction markets like insider trading and fraud. I thank NBA Commissioner Adam Silver for putting the integrity of professional basketball and America’s financial markets first and for working with the CFTC on this MOU.”
The CFTC previously agreed to memorandum of understandings with the NHL and MLB.
The NHL and CFTC agreed to their memorandum in May, while the CFTC and MLB agreed to their memorandum in March.
Regulatory Writer and Editor
Robert Linnehan covers all regulatory developments in online gambling and sports betting. He specializes in U.S. sports betting news along with casino regulation news as one of the most trusted sources in the country.
