NBA names Kalshi and Polymarket preferred prediction market exchanges
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The gist
The NBA named Kalshi and Polymarket preferred prediction market exchanges and signed an MOU with the CFTC.
The deals pull sports betting further into federal oversight, which several states are contesting.
Background
Kalshi is a federally regulated prediction market exchange — a platform where users trade on the outcome of events — and became the first such U.S. exchange in 2024. The NBA, the U.S. professional basketball league, had held off on commercial prediction-market deals until it felt the regulatory pieces were in place, and it now follows the NHL and Major League Baseball in partnering with the industry. The move lands in the middle of a fight over whether trading on sports falls under state gambling regulators or the federal government.
How it unfolded
- 2024Kalshi became the first federally regulated exchange and prediction market in the United States.
- Apr 22, 2026Kalshi said it had suspended accounts of three congressional candidates for allegedly betting on their own races; all three were banned for five years.
- Oct 21, 2026Kalshi traders pushed odds for Democratic control of the Senate to 66%, a new high in Kalshi's American Power Index (KPOW).
- Oct 26, 2026The NBA named Kalshi and Polymarket preferred prediction market exchanges, named DraftKings an authorized prediction market operator, and announced an MOU (memorandum of understanding) with the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the federal derivatives regulator).
Who’s saying what
- Official
- Kalshi says the partnership brings official NBA data to its basketball markets and sets up collaboration on market integrity, consumer protections and athlete safety.
- Official
- NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said roughly 40 jurisdictions currently regulate the league and a consistent national policy would be in its best interest.
- Official
- NBA executive vice president Scott Kaufman-Ross said the league was waiting for the moment when all the proper regulatory pieces were in place.
- Caution
- The NFL, in a Supreme Court filing in a New Jersey case involving Kalshi, argued that billions will be bet on its games through prediction markets and that delay will increase consumer harm and risk to game integrity.
Still unverified
Financial terms of the NBA deals were not disclosed.