NBA Partners with Polymarket to Enhance Prediction Market Integrity

NBA entered into a MOU with CFTC

The league said in a release it entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to designate Kalshi and Polymarket as its preferred prediction market exchanges.

NBA Implements Strict Integrity Protections for Prediction Markets

Via the agreements, NBA-related markets on the two platforms will face “significant integrity protections,” including a ban on trading by league and team personnel and “information-sharing obligations relating to investigations and suspicious trading.”

Scott Kaufman-Ross, the NBA’s head of media distribution and partnerships, said the sport’s “integrity” is the league’s “top priority.”

Kaufman-Ross added, “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.”

CFTC Chair Michael Selig said in a release he was “pleased” the NBA signed the memorandum with his commission, noting the professional basketball league is following MLB and the NHL in partnering with Kalshi and Polymarket.

Legal Battles and Federal vs. State Regulatory Scrutiny

New Jersey officials last month asked the Supreme Court to weigh in the legal battle between prediction markets and states, which seek to regulate the platform — despite Selig arguing his commission has sole jurisdiction over them.

A bipartisan coalition of 39 states and the District of Columbia have backed New Jersey’s request, saying Kalshi and Polymarket are “wrong” from arguing the federal government has regulatory power over them. 

Adam Silver, commissioner of the NBA, has sided with prediction markets, saying on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” earlier this month that having a “consistent policy nationally” is in his league’s “best interest.”

The NFL, on the other hand, urged the Supreme Court to take up New Jersey’s request and argued regulation of prediction markets should fall to the states. The country’s most popular sports league has partnerships with multiple sportsbooks, who face competition from prediction markets.