NBA names Kalshi and Polymarket preferred prediction market partners
The National Basketball Association has signed commercial agreements with Kalshi and Polymarket, naming both companies preferred prediction market exchanges while establishing new integrity arrangements with US regulators.
Announced on October 26, the agreements give the two platforms access to official NBA data, intellectual property and marketing opportunities.
The league has also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), establishing a formal framework for sharing information about suspicious trading and potential market manipulation.
The agreements represent a significant expansion of the NBA’s involvement in prediction markets, which allow customers to trade contracts based on the outcomes of sporting events.
Unlike conventional sportsbooks, prediction market exchanges operate under federal derivatives regulation, although their legal status remains disputed in several US states.
Under the commercial agreements, Kalshi and Polymarket will receive official NBA data supplied through Sportradar, with the data able be used to operate and settle authorised basketball-related event contracts.
Both platforms must also comply with restrictions governing the types of NBA markets they can offer.
The agreements prohibit NBA and team personnel from trading NBA-related event contracts and establish information-sharing obligations covering suspicious activity and integrity investigations.
Scott Kaufman-Ross, the NBA’s head of media distribution and partnerships, said protecting competition integrity remained the league’s central consideration.
“Protecting the integrity of the game is our top priority,” he said.
“As this category develops, we believe it is important to work constructively with regulators and operators to help ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place.
“These partnerships represent an important step in establishing a framework that creates new opportunities to engage our fans.”
He added that the NBA wanted to work with regulators and operators to establish appropriate safeguards as prediction markets developed.
The NBA has also expanded its existing commercial agreement with DraftKings to include prediction markets and nationwide promotional activity.
DraftKings will operate as an authorised prediction market partner rather than one of the league’s two preferred exchanges.
Meanwhile, the CFTC agreement establishes closer cooperation between the federal regulator and the NBA.
CFTC chairman Michael Selig said the arrangement would improve information sharing and help address potential insider trading and fraud.
The NBA joins Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League in establishing formal integrity cooperation with the CFTC.
The partnerships come amid an increasingly contentious legal dispute between prediction market operators and state gambling regulators.
Several states have challenged sports event contracts on the grounds that they constitute unlicensed gambling.
Despite that uncertainty, the NBA’s agreements demonstrate growing commercial acceptance of prediction markets among major American sporting organisations.
