NBA names Kalshi, Polymarket preferred exchanges, signs CFTC pact

The National Basketball Association named Kalshi and Polymarket its preferred prediction market exchanges on October 26, announcing commercial partnerships alongside an information-sharing agreement with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The arrangements combine official league data and marketing rights with safeguards intended to protect basketball-related markets.

According to the league’s announcement, the exchange partnerships prohibit NBA and team personnel from trading NBA event contracts. They also impose restrictions on permissible markets and require the platforms to share information concerning investigations and suspicious trading activity, putting integrity obligations alongside the commercial benefits.

Kalshi and Polymarket will receive official NBA statistics through Sportradar, the league’s designated data distribution partner, to operate and settle authorized basketball markets. The partnerships also grant rights to use NBA intellectual property and conduct marketing and promotional activities across media channels in the United States.

The data arrangements give the exchanges an official league source for determining the outcomes of authorized contracts. Kalshi described its partnership as establishing direct collaboration with the NBA on market integrity, consumer protection and athlete safety, framing the agreement as more than a branding arrangement.

Separately, the NBA and CFTC signed a memorandum of understanding focused on cooperation and information sharing. The regulator said the arrangement provides for regular communication about integrity issues and maintaining fair and transparent prediction markets, creating a channel between the league and the federal agency.

CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig said the agreement was intended to help protect sports integrity and market participants against abuses including insider trading and fraud. The agency said the NBA joins Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League in establishing similar arrangements, extending its cooperation with professional sports organizations.

The announcement comes amid a dispute over who should oversee sports-related prediction contracts. The CFTC has asserted federal jurisdiction, while states challenging that position argue that the products amount to gambling and should be subject to state gaming laws. The partnerships do not themselves resolve that jurisdictional conflict.

For the NBA, the framework links new opportunities for fan engagement to restrictions on how its games can be traded. The league said authorized prediction-market operator partnerships will carry enhanced integrity obligations and market limitations aligned with its latest sports betting restrictions, connecting the new arrangements to its existing approach to wagering safeguards.

The expansion also reaches beyond Kalshi and Polymarket. The NBA said it broadened its existing DraftKings agreement to cover prediction markets and nationwide promotion, bringing another established commercial partner into the framework rather than limiting the initiative to its two preferred exchanges.

More agreements are expected in the coming weeks, according to the NBA, including expanded relationships with current official sports betting partners and other industry operators. Those arrangements will extend the framework as the league and CFTC begin the information-sharing cooperation described in their memorandum.