Kalshi described the deals with five MLB teams it announced Tuesday as all being “exclusive,” but that’s not exactly right, Front Office Sports has learned.
Although Kalshi’s press release originally described all the deals as “exclusive, multi-year brand partnerships,” two of the deals—with the Braves and Giants—are not exclusive, two sources tell FOS. Those teams can enter into other prediction-market partnerships if they so choose. A representative for the Giants confirmed to FOS that the deal is not exclusive.
The deals with the Dodgers and Red Sox are exclusive, according to the press releases issued by both of those teams. A source familiar with the matter tells FOS the Padres deal is also exclusive. Representatives for the Braves and Padres declined to comment.
A representative for Kalshi tells FOS the error was not on purpose and the company has amended its press release. The company also issued individual press releases about each deal to local media on Tuesday that had the correct information.
Some of the deals are not guaranteed to last multiple years, with at least the Giants and Padres agreements including mutual opt-out clauses under which either side can walk away in October, sources say.
The deals announced Tuesday were major for Kalshi, as they represented the prediction-market giant’s first MLB team deals (it does have a team-level deal with the Blackhawks; Kalshi and Polymarket are both official partners of the NHL).
Polymarket scored the overall deal with MLB back in March, an agreement sources told FOS was worth up to $300 million over four years. Under Polymarket’s deal, it became the exclusive prediction-market partner of the league, but teams remained free to enter into their own agreements. MLB has since named other companies as authorized prediction-market platforms under the league’s integrity framework, including Kalshi and Novig—the latter of which was the first platform to reach a team-level deal, with the Mets (that deal is exclusive and multiple years).
Polymarket has since reached an agreement with the Yankees that, for now, is just through the rest of this season.
As of Tuesday, there are now seven individual teams with prediction-market agreements, representing nearly one-quarter of the league. FOS reached out to every MLB team on Tuesday to ask if they have any prediction-market partnerships; representatives for the Guardians, Nationals, Phillies, Rockies, and Angels all said they do not.
Sports-event contracts from Kalshi and other prediction-market platforms are the subject of numerous lawsuits winding through the U.S. court system; several states argue they should be treated like traditional sports betting, which is regulated by individual states.
