What the NBA’s Kalshi and Polymarket Deals Allow and Restrict

The NBA’s agreements with Kalshi and Polymarket give prediction-market companies a formal league relationship while attaching controls to basketball trading. The separate agreement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission establishes a channel for the regulator and league to exchange information.

The companies were named preferred exchanges Monday. The Associated Press reported that the partnerships are multiyear agreements and that their financial terms were not disclosed.

What Do the Exchanges Receive?

The NBA says preferred partners receive league branding and marketing rights, plus official data from Sportradar for authorized markets.

Kalshi’s own announcement explains the data’s practical role: it will inform the operation and settlement of authorized NBA markets. Settlement is the determination of which contract outcome occurred and what payment follows. Using the league’s official record gives that process a stated information source.

That commercial relationship and the CFTC arrangement do different jobs. One connects an exchange to league assets and operating information. The other connects the league to a federal regulator on integrity matters.

What Is an Event Contract?

The CFTC’s explanation of prediction markets describes contracts commonly built around a yes-or-no outcome with a fixed payment, usually $1, and an expiration. Their prices reflect participants’ expectations, which can change before the outcome is settled.

Consider a hypothetical $1 contract bought for 65 cents. If its stated winning condition occurs, the payment produces a 35-cent gain before fees and taxes. If it loses, the buyer can lose the 65-cent purchase price. That illustrates the contract structure; it does not identify an actual NBA offering or recommend a trade.

The contract’s settlement rules matter alongside its price. They determine what event counts, which source resolves it and when the position closes.

What Trading Controls Were Described?

Kalshi says its agreement includes restrictions on permissible markets, bans on league and team personnel trading NBA event contracts, and channels for sharing integrity information and investigating suspicious activity.

The company also describes market surveillance with IC360, work with Signify on threats against athletes and coaches, and self-exclusion tools. Those are the operator’s account of its safeguards, rather than findings that misconduct has been eliminated.

The public announcements do not supply the complete commercial contracts or a comprehensive list of authorized individual markets. A preferred-partner designation alone therefore does not answer whether a particular proposed contract is permitted.

What Does the CFTC Memorandum Commit the Parties to Do?

The published memorandum sets out consultations, meetings and requests for information. Article I says the arrangement does not supersede applicable laws, create legally binding rights or obligations, or require either side to provide information. Sharing remains discretionary.

Article III limits how information received through the arrangement may be used and provides confidentiality protections. The NBA’s permitted use concerns basketball integrity; the CFTC’s concerns its statutory responsibilities.

Those provisions explain the agreement’s practical reach. It provides contacts and procedures for cooperation while preserving the regulator’s existing enforcement authority. It does not settle every question about a customer’s eligibility, a particular contract or the rules governing an account.

For the underlying financial product, the CFTC directs customers to review contract terms, costs and risks. The league relationship adds information and integrity arrangements to that system; an individual position still depends on its own terms and outcome.