NBA Partners With Kalshi, Polymarket as Preferred Exchanges
The NBA announced Monday that Kalshi and Polymarket are now its preferred prediction market platforms, along with a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The league said the agreements create an integrity framework that gives it a say over which markets can be offered on NBA games, according to ESPN.
The NBA follows the NHL and MLB, both of which previously struck deals with the two platforms. The NBA season began October 20, 2026.
What The Deals Include
Kalshi and Polymarket will carry the designation Preferred Prediction Market Exchange of the NBA. Each gets access to league, team, and event logos and other intellectual property, official NBA data from Sportradar to operate and settle authorized markets, and approved marketing activations across designated media channels.
The platforms had already listed NBA markets before the deal, The Athletic notes. The change is that the league now has the right to approve the kinds of markets it offers. That differs from its sportsbook partners, where the NBA does not have a unilateral right to stop a market.
Kalshi's head of sports partnerships, Adam Barrick, called the deal "a significant milestone." Ari Borod, Polymarket's president of sports business development, said the company looks forward "to partnering with the NBA on establishing a safe, transparent prediction market ecosystem for everyone."
Integrity Rules And Limits
Under the framework, the platforms will help the league identify suspicious trading, share data for investigations, and work to prohibit insider trading. Players, team staff, and league personnel will not be allowed to trade on NBA prediction markets, in line with the league's sports betting rules.
The restrictions the NBA recently agreed with sportsbooks, covering same-player under parlays and similar props, will apply to prediction markets as well, according to The Athletic. We covered those changes in our report on the NBA ban on same-player under parlays.
NBA executive Scott Kaufman-Ross told ESPN the league held off until the right regulatory framework was in place: "We were really just waiting for that moment where we felt like we had all of the proper pieces in place in order for us to get comfortable to move forward."
Sportsbook Partners Are Next
The NBA also expanded its agreement with DraftKings to include the company's prediction market offering. A DraftKings spokesperson told ESPN the expanded deal allows it to "reach and engage eligible customers around NBA event contracts throughout the league ecosystem."
Kaufman-Ross told The Athletic he expects similar expansions with FanDuel, Fanatics and potentially others.
The NFL, by contrast, has banned its sportsbook partners from advertising prediction markets during games.
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The Legal Fight Is Not Settled
The announcement comes amid a dispute over whether sports contracts on prediction markets fall under state gambling law or federal oversight. New York, where the NBA is headquartered, is among the states suing prediction markets, ESPN reports. New Jersey has asked the Supreme Court to weigh in, and the NFL filed a brief earlier this month supporting that request.
Kaufman-Ross said the NBA will not weigh in on the case: "We'll let the courts decide. The jurisdictional issue is not our issue. Our issue is the way that our game is impacted."
He added that the contracts address a scenario in which the platforms can no longer offer sports markets.
What Fans Should Know
The availability of prediction markets for sports varies by state, and several states have moved to limit them. Check the rules where you live before trading, and only use platforms you understand.
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