MLB ties up with Polymarket and federal prediction markets agency

Prediction Markets

Major League Baseball is entering the prediction market space with a pair of deals that commissioner Rob Manfred says are aimed at combating threats to the sport’s integrity.

MLB on Thursday named Polymarket as the league’s official prediction market exchange and announced an information sharing agreement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the federal body that oversees the growing prediction market industry.

Polymarket gains the rights to use MLB marks and logos on its platform as well as official data from Sportradar to help resolve markets, while the league gets more visibility and input on the rules governing the billions of dollars that is expected to be traded on baseball this season.

On Wednesday in Miami, Manfred and CFTC chairman Michael Selig signed a memorandum of understanding centered on the sharing of information confidentially. The two sides will meet regularly to discuss potential threats to integrity posed by specific markets.

“We’re making sure that we have the right guardrails and integrity standards in place, and that’s why we’re partnering with MLB, because we’ve got to get this right,” Selig said.

Prediction markets have exploded in popularity over the past year in the U.S. They allow customers to trade on yes/no propositions including on sports outcomes and, according to Selig, fall under the regulatory jurisdiction of the CFTC. States argue that prediction markets offer sports betting and are prohibited unless licensed. The parties are embroiled in legal battles in multiple states.

Manfred said the biggest difference between prediction markets and traditional sports betting operators is federal oversight instead of the varying state regulatory requirements.

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