NBA names Kalshi and Polymarket preferred prediction-market exchanges

The NBA announced agreements on Monday to set up a framework for prediction markets tied to the league, including a memorandum of understanding with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Under the arrangements, Kalshi and Polymarket have been designated as the league's preferred prediction market exchanges. The agreements do not cover the WNBA.

Alongside its preferred partnerships with Kalshi and Polymarket, the NBA has broadened its agreement with DraftKings to cover prediction markets and nationwide promotion. The league said it intends to grow its relationships with other current official sports betting partners, and with others in the industry, over the coming weeks.

Scott Kaufman-Ross, the NBA's head of media distribution and partnerships, said protecting the integrity of the game was the league's top priority. He said it was important to work constructively with regulators and operators as the category develops so that appropriate safeguards are in place.

Sportradar said it is supporting the NBA's entry into prediction markets as the league's exclusive data provider, and that official NBA data will power both platforms through its existing partnerships with Kalshi and Polymarket.

The NBA follows the National Hockey League and Major League Baseball, which previously entered partnerships with Kalshi and Polymarket. The National Football League remains opposed to sports-event contracts and has filed an amicus brief supporting New Jersey's regulator in its case against Kalshi, arguing that such contracts are gambling rather than financial swaps that should be regulated exclusively by the CFTC.

At the centre of the case is a question of jurisdiction: which level of government, state or federal, holds exclusive power over sports-event contracts offered on prediction platforms. Jennifer Davenport, New Jersey's Attorney General, has asked the US Supreme Court to set aside a US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit decision. That ruling stopped the state from applying its gambling laws.

Kaufman-Ross told ESPN that the NBA does not plan to weigh in on the potential Supreme Court case, and confirmed that the league's contracts with Kalshi and Polymarket address the possibility that sports-event contracts may no longer be available. He said the jurisdictional question was not the league's issue, and that its concern was how its game is affected.

CFTC Chairman Michael Selig praised the deals involving the league, Kalshi and Polymarket. In a statement, he said the MOU carries forward the commission's work to broaden data sharing with professional sports leagues. Selig added that the NBA now stands alongside 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."