The NBA announced prediction-market partnerships Monday, October 26, alongside an information-sharing agreement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, linking its commercial expansion to new oversight arrangements.
Kalshi and Polymarket will become the league’s preferred prediction-market exchanges under multiyear agreements, the Associated Press reported. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The CFTC said its memorandum of understanding with the NBA provides for regular communication and information exchanges concerning professional basketball and the fairness and transparency of related prediction markets. The agency described the agreement as an effort to protect the integrity of both the sport and the markets.
CFTC Chairman Michael Selig said the NBA joins Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League in cooperating with the regulator. He identified preventing insider trading and fraud as objectives of that cooperation, rather than announcing a finding of wrongdoing in a particular case.
The commercial partnerships have a separate role. According to AP, they give the exchanges access to NBA branding and official statistical data through Sportradar for operating and settling authorized markets.
AP reported that the safeguards include restrictions on the markets offered, obligations to share information about suspicious trading and investigations, and a prohibition on league and team personnel trading on league events. The NBA will have approval rights over the types of markets available on its games.
Monday’s announcements establish the partnerships and the cooperation framework. They do not, by themselves, demonstrate how effectively the safeguards will work. The CFTC’s release sets out the intended information-sharing relationship; it does not report the results of an enforcement action or a completed investigation.
Sources: CFTC — October 26 announcement: https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/9314-26 Associated Press via ABC News — October 26, 10:11 a.m. Eastern: https://abcnews.com/Sports/wireStory/nba-strikes-deals-prediction-markets-eye-integrity-regulations-137573330