NBA Names Kalshi and Polymarket Preferred Prediction Markets and Signs CFTC Integrity Deal
The NBA has become the fourth major US league to partner with prediction markets, naming Kalshi and Polymarket its preferred exchanges, extending its DraftKings deal to DraftKings Predictions and signing an integrity agreement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
- Kalshi and Polymarket each become a "Preferred Prediction Market Exchange of the NBA", with official league data from Sportradar and the right to use NBA marks and logos in the United States.
- The deals limit which NBA markets can be listed, ban league and team staff from trading NBA contracts and set up information sharing on suspicious trading.
- The NBA is the first league to extend a sportsbook partnership into prediction markets, while the NFL remains the only major league without a prediction market partner.
The league announced the agreements on Monday 26 October. The NBA follows Major League Baseball, the NHL and MLS into partnerships with prediction markets, Legal Sports Report reported. The deals do not cover the WNBA.
"Protecting the integrity of the game is our top priority," said Scott Kaufman-Ross, the NBA's head of media distribution and partnerships. "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."
What Kalshi and Polymarket Get
As preferred exchanges, Kalshi and Polymarket receive rights to NBA intellectual property, marketing rights and promotional activations across US media. Both will use official NBA data distributed by Sportradar, the league's exclusive data provider, to run and settle authorised NBA markets, CDC Gaming reported.
In return, the league gains more say over what is offered. The agreements restrict which markets can be listed, bar league and team personnel from trading NBA event contracts and require the exchanges to share information on suspicious trading and cooperate with investigations. Kalshi said it would set up direct channels with the league to report integrity concerns, building on its existing surveillance work with IC360 and a nationwide self-exclusion tool.
The NBA has extra reason to tighten integrity rules. The league has spent the past year dealing with betting scandals involving players and associates, and has already tightened its own rules on some player prop bets.
DraftKings Predictions Joins the Deal
DraftKings, already an official sports betting partner of the NBA, has expanded its agreement to cover DraftKings Predictions, its prediction market product, with nationwide promotion. The NBA said it plans to expand relationships with its other official betting partners, and others in the industry, in the coming weeks.
"The agreement expands our ability to reach and engage eligible customers around NBA event contracts throughout the league ecosystem," DraftKings said.
The CFTC Agreement
Alongside the commercial deals, the NBA signed a memorandum of understanding with the CFTC on protecting the integrity of basketball in prediction markets. CFTC Chairman Michael Selig said 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".
The memorandum is a statement of intent rather than a binding contract. Neither side is obliged to share information, it does not limit the CFTC's enforcement powers and either party can end it with 30 days' notice. The NBA may pass CFTC information to its Board of Governors but needs written approval to share it with teams.
Staying Out of the Legal Fight
The deals arrive while the question of who regulates sports event contracts remains unresolved. There is a split between the appeals courts, several states have won rulings against Kalshi, and New Jersey's petition to the US Supreme Court is pending.
The NBA says it will not take a side. "The jurisdictional issue is not our issue. Our issue is the way that our game is impacted," Kaufman-Ross told ESPN, adding that the contracts allow for sports event contracts becoming unavailable. Kalshi, meanwhile, is fighting on several fronts at once, with the courtroom fight now stretching from Utah to Louisiana and New York.
The NFL has taken the opposite approach. It filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court this month arguing that sports event contracts are gambling that states should regulate, and commissioner Roger Goodell has said the league is in no hurry to sign a deal. With the NBA season under way, Kalshi and Polymarket can now market NBA contracts using the league's own logos and official data.
