As professional sports leagues scramble to contain a wave of prop-betting scandals, Kalshi is quietly moving into NBA player prop markets.
The prediction-market platform is once again expanding its sports-related offerings, this time to include NBA prop bets, a source familiar with the matter tells Front Office Sports. This weekend, users of the prediction-markets platform will be able to put money on player over/unders for the following categories: points, rebounds, assists, and three-pointers, the source says.
The expansion comes as prop bets have faced increasing scrutiny in the wake of recent scandals in both pro and college sports. In MLB, two Guardians pitchers—including All-Star closer Emmanuel Clase—were indicted last week for alleged involvement in a scheme to rig individual pitches. In the NBA, Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, Heat guard Terry Rozier, and former NBA player and coach Damon Jones were indicted last month as part of a sprawling federal investigation that includes allegations about providing nonpublic information to bettors. (Billups was indicted over an allegedly rigged poker ring, although circumstantial evidence ties him to the betting indictment even though he was not named.)
Meanwhile, on Thursday evening, New Jersey law enforcement authorities charged 14 people for an array of crimes as part of a scheme that allegedly involved college athletes who were part of a multimillion-dollar sports betting ring with links to organized crime.
The scandals have pro leagues racing to do something about prop bets in particular. These are wagers on a specific event or individual performance—like how many 3-pointers a player will make in the first quarter—and aren’t tied to the result of a game; they are easier to manipulate by individuals than game outcomes. The NBA is reviewing with its sportsbook partners how to stem the tide of bets vulnerable to manipulation, MLB has unveiled a nationwide plan with top sportsbooks to restrict prop bets on the sport, and on Thursday the NFL asked the sportsbooks it’s in business with to stop offering certain prop bets.
Kalshi, which confirmed the plans to FOS Thursday evening, is aware of the sensitivity of the current moment. Spokesperson Sara Slane tells FOS the new NBA prop bets are being added with protections in place.
“It’s going to be limited,” she says. “We have robust integrity protections in place.”
Slane stressed that the rollout is intentionally narrow: individual users will be limited to $10,000 per trade on the NBA props, the platform will only offer prop markets for roughly 50 NBA players to keep the scope tight. The guardrails are designed to keep the product transparent and controlled at a time when betting integrity is under heightened scrutiny.
Kalshi already works with a betting integrity monitor, IC360, and Slane says the company has imposed trading prohibitions on current and former NBA players, coaches, and staff.
“We are all over this,” she says. “We have 24-hour monitoring.”
Kalshi, which is fighting numerous court battles against state regulators that believe its sports event contracts constitute illegal sports betting, previously added NFL prop bets ahead of the start of this season.
The new offerings come as Kalshi faces increased competition. Its main rival, Polymarket, has finally relaunched in the U.S. following a delay experts attributed to the federal government shutdown, although in a limited capacity for now as it tests its platform. Traditional sports betting giants FanDuel and DraftKings are each preparing prediction-markets products that could be available as soon as next month. Other players include President Donald Trump’s social media platform Truth Social, Crypto.com, Robinhood, PrizePicks, Underdog, and Novig.
