The Nationwide Hockey League has signed multiyear licensing offers with prediction market platforms Kalshi and Polymarket, changing into the primary main U.S. skilled sports activities league to allow the usage of its emblems by markets outdoors the sportsbook business, the Wall Avenue Journal reported.
The agreements enable each firms to make use of official NHL branding — together with staff names, the league emblem and phrases like “Stanley Cup” — of their respective platforms the place customers commerce on the outcomes of sports activities occasions.
The transfer successfully places Kalshi and Polymarket in direct competitors with conventional sportsbooks like DraftKings and FanDuel. However the path every firm is taking is completely different.
Kalshi is regulated by the Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee, giving it authorized clearance to supply contracts in all 50 states, together with these the place on-line sports activities betting stays restricted.
Polymarket, which operates on the blockchain and has confronted regulatory challenges within the U.S., is making ready to relaunch domestically. The corporate lately landed a $2 billion funding from Intercontinental Alternate, the dad or mum of the New York Inventory Alternate which can give it the monetary and institutional backing to increase extra aggressively.
The NHL already maintains comparable model licensing offers with DraftKings, FanDuel and BetMGM. However that is the primary time it has prolonged such entry to prediction markets, signaling a shift in how skilled sports activities leagues view the broader occasion derivatives house.
For the reason that deal, shares of Flutter Leisure — the dad or mum firm of FanDuel — have fallen sharply. DraftKings inventory has additionally dipped, reflecting investor considerations that prediction markets might reduce into sportsbook market share, particularly if they continue to be accessible in in any other case closed markets.
Prediction markets have seen renewed momentum in latest months, pushed partially by curiosity in political contracts forward of the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket have drawn hundreds of customers betting on every part from debate performances to candidate withdrawals — and now, sports activities leagues are beginning to observe that focus.