Sportsupdated 54m ago3 min read
NBA Names Kalshi And Polymarket Preferred Prediction Exchanges, Signs CFTC MOU
“The NBA’s response to gambling scandals is to add more gambling partnerships”
“Those agreements, announced Monday, are intended to provide ‘significant integrity protections for NBA-related markets,’”
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NBA designated Kalshi and Polymarket as preferred prediction market exchanges with data access. Memorandum of Understanding with the CFTC protects integrity of basketball event contracts.
NBA picks preferred exchanges
The National Basketball Association announced agreements that name Kalshi and Polymarket as the league’s preferred prediction market exchanges and put a Memorandum of Understanding with the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) at the center of the deal. Scott Kaufman-Ross said the NBA’s partnerships are intended to deliver “significant integrity protections for NBA-related markets,” including limitations on what can be offered and transparency when it comes to suspicious patterns by site users. The prediction markets will have “information-sharing obligations relating to investigations and suspicious trading,” and the league also expanded its agreement with DraftKings to incorporate prediction-market offerings.
The NBA’s partnerships include access to league intellectual property such as logos and rights to use NBA statistical data from league partner Sportradar to operate and settle authorized NBA-related markets. The terms were not disclosed beyond confirming the agreements are for multiple years, while the league framed the move as a way to protect integrity in a regulated market.
Regulation fight and court stance
The NBA’s entry into prediction markets arrived as states argued over whether the contracts fall under state gaming regulators or the federal sphere, with New York filing lawsuits and New Jersey bringing the dispute to the Supreme Court. Scott Kaufman-Ross said, “We will let the courts decide; the question of jurisdiction is not our concern, but how this affects our sport,” and he confirmed the contracts include specific clauses if commercialization of sporting events is prohibited. The memorandum of understanding with the CFTC “reflects a shared commitment to ensuring that NBA-related prediction markets are subject to appropriate regulatory oversight and integrity protections,” linking the league’s integrity framework to federal oversight.
Ari Borod said Polymarket intends to “establish a safe and transparent prediction market ecosystem for all,” while Adam Barrick called the alliance an “important milestone” for Kalshi. The NBA also told sportsbook partners it would not permit certain types of wagering this season, including wagers about which players record the first stat of a game, the outcome of the opening tip, and taking the “under” involving players not expected to play more than a few minutes.
Integrity rules and market access
The NBA’s agreements with Kalshi and Polymarket put integrity restrictions in the foreground, including “affirmative prohibitions on league and team personnel from making trades related to league events.” Kalshi said the exchange and the NBA “will share integrity data, report suspicious activity and cooperate in investigations,” and it said the agreement includes restrictions on permitted markets and explicit prohibitions on league staff and teams trading NBA event contracts. The preferred exchanges will be able to describe themselves as the “Preferred Prediction Market Exchange of the NBA,” and the league said they will receive official NBA data from Sportradar to operate and settle authorized markets.
The NBA expanded its DraftKings relationship to include prediction markets, and the league said it expects to announce similar arrangements with other operators in the coming weeks. The NBA’s move also left the NFL as the outlier among major American sports leagues, with the NFL asking the Supreme Court to rule on regulation of such markets and the NBA saying it would not take a side in determining how prediction markets should be regulated.