The National Basketball Association has secured a prediction markets agreement with the U.S. derivatives regulator while also penning a partnership with leading firms Kalshi and Polymarket, formally linking professional basketball into the online sports betting movement while another major organization, the National Football League, has rejected such an arrangement.

The NBA, like Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League before it, established a data-sharing memorandum of understanding with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission that oversees federal regulation of exchanges that deal with event contracts — the simple yes-or-no trades behind most sports betting. The NBA's arrangement announced Monday is said to come with constraints meant to maintain the integrity of such wagering.

At the same time, like other leagues, the NBA partnered with the top platforms as their "preferred exchanges."

"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," said Scott Kaufman-Ross, the NBA's head of media distribution and partnerships, in a statement. "These partnerships represent an important step in establishing a framework that creates new opportunities to engage our fans.”

The deals arrive as the prediction markets face a nationwide legal battle with several state governments that contend such betting belongs more appropriately under the power of their gambling laws. Three major federal court decisions have landed on both sides of the issue, with two of them favoring the states' argument. S. Supreme Court has been asked to step in and resolve the dispute, including by the NFL, which sided with the states in a filing with the high court.

Source link