NBA Names Kalshi, Polymarket Preferred Prediction Market Exchanges

The National Basketball Association on October 26, 2026 announced a set of agreements designed to establish a comprehensive framework for NBA-related prediction markets, designating Kalshi and Polymarket as the league’s Preferred Prediction Market Exchanges and entering a Memorandum of Understanding with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

The agreements with Kalshi and Polymarket put in place integrity protections for NBA-related markets, including limitations on permissible markets, affirmative prohibitions on trading NBA event contracts by league and team personnel, and information-sharing obligations relating to investigations and suspicious trading, according to the league’s release.

“Protecting the integrity of the game is our top priority,” said Scott Kaufman-Ross, NBA Head of Media Distribution & Partnerships. He said the league wants to cooperate with regulators and operators while the category develops so that appropriate safeguards are in place, and he described the agreements as an important step toward a framework that creates new ways to engage fans.

CFTC Memorandum of Understanding

The CFTC announced the signing in Washington on October 26, 2026, describing a Memorandum of Understanding intended to protect the integrity of professional basketball in prediction markets. Under the MOU, the CFTC and the NBA will share information by regularly communicating and discussing matters relating to integrity and to maintaining fair and transparent prediction markets. The NBA’s release described the agreement as reflecting a shared commitment to ensuring that NBA-related prediction markets are subject to appropriate regulatory oversight and integrity protections.

“I’m pleased the CFTC and NBA signed an MOU which continues the Commission’s commitment to increasing data sharing between the agency and professional sports leagues,” CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig said. Selig said the NBA joins MLB and the NHL in taking what he called a responsible step toward protecting sports integrity and market participants from abuses in prediction markets, such as insider trading and fraud. He also thanked NBA Commissioner Adam Silver for prioritizing the integrity of professional basketball and US financial markets and for working with the CFTC on the agreement.

Preferred Exchange Rights and Operator Plans

As Preferred Prediction Market Exchanges, Kalshi and Polymarket will receive rights to use NBA intellectual property, marketing rights and promotional activations across media channels within the United States, alongside the integrity collaboration. The exchanges will also receive official NBA data from Sportradar, the NBA’s Official Data Distribution Partner, to operate and settle authorized NBA-related markets.

Adam Barrick, Head of Sports Partnerships at Kalshi, said in the league’s release that announcing the partnership marked a significant milestone, describing a relationship built around a shared mindset that prioritizes fan engagement, innovation and safety. Ari Borod, President of Sports Business Development at Polymarket, said the agreement will let Polymarket customers follow basketball at a deeper level on its platform, and that the exchange intends to work with the league on a prediction market ecosystem it characterized as safe and transparent.

In its own announcement, Kalshi said official NBA data distributed by Sportradar will be integrated into the operation and settlement of authorized NBA markets on its exchange, connecting the markets directly to the league’s official record as an authoritative source for determining outcomes. Kalshi described its platform as a marketplace in which participants trade with one another and prices emerge from competition among buyers and sellers, with the company earning fees for facilitating trades rather than profiting when users lose.

Kalshi said it and the NBA will establish direct channels to share integrity data, report suspicious trading and cooperate on investigations, and that the agreement includes restrictions on permissible markets and explicit prohibitions on league and team personnel trading NBA event contracts, reinforcing the exchange’s rules against insider trading and manipulation.

The exchange said the new commitments build on safeguards it already operates: market surveillance conducted with IC360 to detect suspicious activity and identify people prohibited from trading; a partnership with Signify that identifies online abuse and threats against athletes and coaches and takes action against the users responsible, including permanently closing their accounts; and nationwide self-exclusion, including an integration with IC360’s SelfExclude program that supports exclusion across participating platforms through a single enrollment. Kalshi’s announcement also cited public remarks by Silver in which he described the league as regulated by roughly 40 different jurisdictions and expressed support for a consistent national policy.

Beyond the preferred-exchange designations, the NBA has expanded its agreement with DraftKings to include prediction markets and nationwide promotion. The league said it plans to expand its relationships with other current official sports betting partners, and others in the industry, in the coming weeks, and that all Authorized Prediction Market Operator partnerships will include enhanced integrity obligations specific to prediction markets together with market restrictions aligned with the NBA’s latest sports betting restrictions.

Responsible Gaming Campaign

The framework follows an October 13, 2026 announcement by the NBA and the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) of a new responsible gaming campaign developed in collaboration with the National Council on Problem Gambling. Launching during the 2026-27 NBA season, the campaign will educate fans, particularly young adults, about the risks associated with sports betting and prediction markets, and will feature a new spot running across social and linear platforms through NBA- and WNBA-owned and partner channels.

The leagues said the campaign will encourage fans who choose to participate to understand the risks, set limits on the time and money they spend, avoid risking money they cannot afford to lose and seek support if their participation becomes difficult to manage, with fans directed to ResponsiblePlay.org for information and resources. Additional details, including the campaign’s creative and debut timing, will be announced at a later date.