MLB Signs Exclusive Polymarket Deal, ‘Integrity Framework’ Agreement With CFTC

Major League Baseball announced Thursday that it has named Polymarket as its exclusive official partner for prediction markets, following the lead of leagues like the National Hockey League and Major League Soccer that have also signed deals with prediction market platforms.

On top of that, MLB Commissioner Robert Manfred signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), a move that builds on MLB’s 2024 letter to the agency calling for stronger integrity protections in the prediction market industry.

The Polymarket partnership grants the platform and its brokers exclusive access to MLB branding and logos, official league data through Sportradar, and exposure across MLB’s digital channels and events. Front Office Sports was first to report on the multi-year deal, just ahead of the official announcement.

Central to the deal is a shared integrity framework, under which both parties will work to restrict markets that could pose integrity risks—such as those involving individual pitches, managerial decisions, or umpire performance. Polymarket will also embed integrity controls into its U.S. rulebook, holding all its brokers to uniform standards.

The MOU with the CFTC establishes a formal channel for confidential information-sharing between the two organizations, regarding the integrity of professional baseball and its related prediction markets. Designated representatives will meet regularly to monitor and address potential threats.

“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,” said Commissioner Manfred, 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.”

While Polymarket holds exclusive rights as MLB’s official exchange, the league intends to establish integrity relationships with all other prediction market platforms offering baseball contracts, requiring each to adopt appropriate protections in their own rulebooks. (Disclosure: Decrypt’s parent company Dastan operates prediction market platform Myriad.)

The announcement follows growing concern over insider trading on prediction market platforms, notably with a well-timed Polymarket bet from an unidentified user on the ouster of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January, just hours before he was apprehended by U.S. special forces.

That case and others have prompted a recent wave of proposed legislation, including this week’s Banning Event Trading on Sensitive Operations and Federal Functions Act, or BETS OFF Act, which would ban prediction markets based on terrorism, assassinations, and war. It would also prohibit wagers on events with known outcomes, such as the Academy Awards or the Super Bowl halftime show.

Platforms have been taking initiatives to self-regulate these matters, with Kalshi recently disclosing its first insider trading enforcement actions—including against a since-fired video editor for YouTube star MrBeast—and Polymarket teaming with data giant Palantir to develop “surveillance models” for sports prediction markets.

“The MOU is a collaborative step towards promoting the integrity and resilience of the prediction markets relating to professional baseball. Through this MOU, the CFTC is well-positioned to add additional tools to protect these markets and its participants from fraud, manipulation, and other abuses,” said CFTC Chairman Michael Selig, in a statement.  “I thank MLB and Commissioner Rob Manfred for partnering with the CFTC and taking a leading role in protecting the integrity of these growing markets.”