MLB partners with Polymarket, makes integrity pact with federal commission on prediction markets
Major League Baseball is entering an official partnership with Polymarket and has an agreement with the federal commission overseeing prediction markets to collaborate on integrity concerns. MLB said in a statement Thursday it has a memorandum of understanding with Michael S. Selig, the chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, to “further protect the integrity of baseball by ensuring swift response to incidents and anticipating emerging trends more strongly.
” Prediction markets have raised concerns from sports leagues already working to combat issues around legal sports gambling. While legal sports books must follow regulations set by states, prediction markets have argued their trades — called event contracts — are derivative markets, and thus fall under the CFTC's jurisdiction. One year ago, MLB sent a letter to the commission calling for strong integrity protections.
“The new agreements that we formed with Polymarket and the CFTC are imperative steps in proactively managing the new and rapidly growing prediction market space,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “Protecting the integrity of the game on the field is our top priority. By engaging in this community, we are able to work together to create clear boundaries with the goal of mitigating risk while providing fan engagement opportunities.
” This partnership with Polymarket will give the company and its brokers exclusive access to MLB logos to be used within its prediction market products. Polymarket will also get access to official league data from Sportradar, MLB’s exclusive global distributor of data for prediction markets. Under terms of the memorandum, MLB and the CFTC agreed to share information regarding the integrity of professional baseball and related prediction markets.
Shared information will be treated confidentially. Designated representatives will meet regularly. “We’ve committed to work together to protect the integrity and resilience of prediction markets relating to professional baseball,” Selig said on X.