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NBA Partners with Kalshi and Polymarket for Prediction Markets
Confirmed
In Short: The NBA on Monday announced commercial partnerships with prediction market platforms Kalshi and Polymarket, emphasizing the importance of safeguarding against illegal activity.
Scott Kaufman-Ross, NBA head of media distribution and partnerships, stated, 'Protecting the integrity of the game is our top priority.'
These partnerships are part of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), aimed at maintaining the integrity of professional basketball in prediction markets.
The NBA will designate Kalshi and Polymarket as 'preferred prediction market exchanges,' allowing them to use NBA marketing materials and intellectual property for promotions.
The MOU does not create legally binding rights or obligations and is intended to facilitate information sharing between the NBA and the CFTC.
Individual NBA stars, including LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo, already have endorsement deals with Polymarket and Kalshi, respectively.
Victor Wembanyama has criticized the promotion of sports gambling, calling it 'very sad to see some players promoting' such activities.
The NBA will have the right to limit the types of markets Kalshi and Polymarket can offer on its games, ensuring transparency and control.
The league plans to expand its relationships with other current official sports betting partners in the coming weeks.
Kalshi and Polymarket will receive official NBA data from Sportradar to operate and settle authorized NBA-related markets.
The NBA's partnerships with prediction markets are distinct from traditional sports betting, as there is no central sportsbook setting odds.
The league has faced multiple illegal gambling scandals in recent years, including arrests and lawsuits against prediction market platforms.
What this adds
The NBA's partnerships with Kalshi and Polymarket are part of a broader strategy to regulate and monitor prediction markets, ensuring they do not compromise the integrity of the sport.
The NBA's approach to prediction markets reflects a balance between fan interest and the need to protect the integrity of the sport.
What's confirmed
- "relating to investigations and suspicious trading."
What's still developing
- The NBA on Monday announced commercial partnerships with Kalshi and Polymarket that the basketball league said will help safeguard against illegal activity on the wildly popular online prediction markets.
- "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."
- In October 2025, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier was among those arrested in a far-ranging FBI probe into illegal gambling.
- New York attorney general Letitia James this summer sued Kalshi, accusing it of running an illegal gambling operation.
- "I'm pleased the CFTC and NBA signed an MOU which continues the Commission's commitment to increasing data sharing between the agency and professional sports leagues," CFTC chairman Michael S.
- "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. I thank NBA Commissioner Adam Silver for putting the integrity of professional basketball and America's financial markets first and for working with the CFTC on this MOU."
- "For us, whether it's called a prediction market, whether it's sports betting, it's the same issues for our league, and I think for all the leagues," he said.
- "Clearly, our fans have interest in this activity," he said, per Reynolds.
- "There's issues around integrity first and foremost."
- In April 2024, the NBA banned Jontay Porter for violating the league's gambling rules.
- In general, Silver told CNBC the league wants as much transparency and control as it can to maintain the integrity of the action on the court.
- "So, we're in a better position to protect the integrity of our games in a regulated market where there's transparency, where things can be monitored and we have insight into what's happening."