From the brilliant minds who brought you the FTX Arena and NBA Top Shot NFT marketplace (where sales last month fell to $762,781, which is a 99.66 percent decline from the February 2021 peak of $226,350,843), the NBA announced Monday that it has new “preferred” prediction market deals for Kalshi and Polymarket, as well as a memorandum of understanding with the US CFTC on managing relationships. It also announced an expansion of its DraftKings deal to include prediction markets and says more expansions with others will be announced soon.
The NBA is already facing scandals after Jontay Porter pleaded guilty to conspiracy over a 2024 gambling and manipulation scheme, Malik Beasley is reportedly in negotiations for a plea deal on similar charges, while former player Terry Rozier and coach Chauncey Billups are under indictment on charges of alleged prop betting manipulation and participation in rigged poker games, respectively.
NBA head of media distribution and partnerships Scott Kaufman-Ross proclaims that “protecting the integrity of the game is our top priority” as he lays out his integrity framework for the deal between Kalshi and Polymarket. Under the new agreements, prediction markets will be able to use official league data and IP, while promising limitations on “permitted markets” and the sharing of information about suspicious transactions and investigations.
