NBA Partners With Kalshi and Polymarket, Signs CFTC Pact
The NBA named Kalshi and Polymarket its preferred prediction market partners and signed a non-binding deal to share information with the CFTC.
The NBA signed a memorandum of understanding with the CFTC and named Kalshi and Polymarket as its "Preferred Prediction Market Exchanges." It joins MLB and the NHL as the third league with such a pact.
What's the Scoop?
The CFTC Pact: The MOU commits the two sides to communicate and share information on integrity in basketball and its prediction markets, per the CFTC. The text is non-binding, and says any sharing is "at the sole discretion of each Party." The MLB and NHL signed similar pacts earlier this year.
What The Exchanges Get: Kalshi and Polymarket each get rights to NBA IP and U.S. marketing, plus official NBA data from Sportradar, the league says. In return, the deals limit which markets are allowed, bar league and team personnel from trading NBA event contracts, and require sharing information on suspicious trading. The NBA also expanded its DraftKings deal to cover prediction markets.
NFL Holdout: The NFL has not signed with the CFTC, The Block notes. On Oct. 8 it filed a Supreme Court amicus brief arguing states should be able to regulate sports contracts, as I covered.
David Christopher
David is a writer/analyst at Bankless. Prior to joining Bankless, he worked for a series of early-stage crypto startups and on grants from the Ethereum, Solana, and Urbit Foundations. He graduated from Skidmore College in New York. He currently lives in the Midwest and enjoys NFTs, but no longer participates in them.
