NBA Partners With Kalshi and Polymarket on Prediction Markets

Jonathan Rodriguez

Written by: Jonathan Rodriguez

Last Update: Wed Oct 28, 2026, 2:16 am ET

Read Time: 5 minutes

NBA Partners With Kalshi and Polymarket on Prediction Markets

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The NBA has partnered with Kalshi and Polymarket to expand its presence in prediction markets while strengthening safeguards around basketball-related trading.

Announced on October 26, 2026, the agreements name both platforms as the league's Preferred Prediction Market Exchanges. The deals create commercial opportunities for both operators while giving the NBA greater control over which basketball markets they can offer.

The NBA also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to support regulatory cooperation and information sharing. The agreements arrive as recent gambling scandals have intensified concerns about manipulation, player safety, and the integrity of professional basketball.

"Protecting the integrity of the game is our top priority," said Scott Kaufman-Ross, NBA Head of Media Distribution & Partnerships. 

"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. These partnerships represent an important step in establishing a framework that creates new opportunities to engage our fans."

NBA Grants Kalshi and Polymarket Commercial Rights

The agreements give Kalshi and Polymarket access to NBA intellectual property, marketing opportunities, and promotional activations across the United States. Both platforms can also use official NBA data distributed by Sportradar to operate and settle authorized markets.

However, the deal offers the league more than commercial exposure. The NBA retains approval rights over available markets, allowing it to reject contracts it considers objectionable or vulnerable to manipulation.

"If there is an objectionable market that they want to offer, we have the right to say no to that," Kaufman-Ross said when discussing the league's approach to prediction market partnerships.

This arrangement gives the NBA a direct role in shaping markets rather than leaving the exchanges to decide independently. Kaufman-Ross has also emphasized the need to limit problematic bets without pushing activity toward illegal operators.

"There's a balance between ensuring that we are removing problematic bet types but also ensuring that we don't just move activity into the illegal market," he told ESPN.

Kalshi and Polymarket will also face restrictions aligned with the NBA's latest sportsbook guidance. The league did not disclose the financial terms of either partnership.

Recent Gambling Scandals Drive Integrity Measures

The agreements follow several high-profile cases that have exposed vulnerabilities in player-performance betting. In April 2024, the NBA banned former Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter for life after finding that he disclosed confidential information to bettors, limited his participation to influence wagers, and bet on NBA games.

Federal investigations have also involved Terry Rozier and Malik Beasley. Rozier has pleaded not guilty to charges connected to an alleged betting scheme and has denied wrongdoing. Beasley's attorney said in October 2026 that the former NBA guard plans to plead guilty in a federal betting-related case.

These cases help explain why the NBA is targeting specific wagers that could make individual performances easier to manipulate.

In October, the league instructed its traditional sportsbook partners to prohibit parlays combining unders on the same player's statistics. It also restricted markets involving opening tips, players missing specific shots, and unders for players expected to play fewer than 12 minutes.

The restrictions also address concerns about athlete harassment. Players can face abuse from angry bettors when performances undermine their wagers, particularly when bets focus on narrow statistical outcomes.

The NBA has therefore expanded protections against betting-related harassment alongside its integrity measures. Its latest framework extends relevant market restrictions to prediction market partners, bringing these operators into a more formal system of oversight.

NBA and CFTC Cooperate as Legal Questions Continue

The NBA's agreement with the CFTC adds another layer of cooperation, including information sharing related to suspicious trading and investigations. The partnerships also prohibit league and team personnel from trading NBA event contracts.

However, the agreement does not settle the dispute over whether sports event contracts fall under federal derivatives regulation or state gambling laws.

The NFL has taken a different approach. It filed a brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to review New Jersey's legal dispute with Kalshi, arguing that sports event contracts should face state gambling regulation. The NFL's position contrasts with the NBA's decision to work directly with prediction market operators.

The NBA's contracts also include contingency provisions intended to protect the league if courts ultimately strike down sports prediction markets in the United States. Those clauses acknowledge that the partnerships' future could depend on how the courts resolve the regulatory dispute.

Traditional US online sportsbooks generally operate under state-issued gambling licenses. Prediction market operators, meanwhile, argue that their event contracts fall under federal oversight, creating a legal divide that could affect both industries.

DraftKings Also Expands Its NBA Relationship

Kalshi and Polymarket are not the only companies involved in the NBA's evolving strategy. The league has expanded its existing relationship with DraftKings to include prediction markets and nationwide promotion. It also plans to develop relationships with additional industry operators.

For fans researching NBA odds and NBA picks, the agreements highlight the growing overlap between sports betting and prediction markets. However, event contracts differ from traditional sportsbook wagers in their structure and regulatory treatment.

Ultimately, the NBA is pursuing commercial opportunities while seeking greater control over how markets involving its games operate.

Its approval rights, player protections, and cooperation with the CFTC reflect a broader effort to address integrity risks without ignoring the growing prediction market industry. The legal uncertainty remains, but the NBA has positioned itself to influence the market as it develops.

Jonathan Rodriguez
Jonathan Rodriguez

Jonathan is an avid basketball fan, and is often looking forward to the next upcoming NBA season when not checking players' stats during games. He also likes to keep his ears on the ground for the latest rumblings in the online casino industry.

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