The National Basketball Association (NBA) has named Kalshi and Polymarket its preferred prediction market exchanges and agreed to cooperate with U.S. regulators on oversight as the industry faces growing scrutiny over insider trading and the integrity of sports-related contracts.
The NBA said the partnerships would
restrict the types of markets operators can offer,
prohibit league and team personnel from trading contracts tied to NBA events, and
require information sharing related to suspicious trading and investigations.
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The league also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to improve cooperation and information sharing on prediction-market integrity. The agreement follows similar arrangements between the regulator and Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League.
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Under the commercial agreements, Kalshi and Polymarket will receive rights to
use NBA intellectual property,
promotional opportunities across U.S. media channels, and
official league data supplied through Sportradar
to operate and settle authorized markets.
The NBA has also expanded its agreement with sports betting operator, DraftKings, to cover prediction markets and nationwide promotion. It plans to extend similar arrangements to other partners.
The move comes as U.S. authorities investigate alleged gambling-related misconduct involving professional basketball and debate whether prediction markets should fall primarily under federal derivatives regulation or state gambling laws.
The CFTC maintains that it oversees these markets while several states have challenged the agency’s position.
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The partnerships give the NBA greater oversight of how participating platforms offer contracts tied to its games while providing exchanges with official data and commercial access to the league.
However, the agreements do not resolve the broader legal dispute over prediction-market jurisdiction.
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