NBA joins pro sports leagues on CFTC prediction markets bandwagon while NFL balks

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.