Polymarket’s Sports Push Continues With LaLiga Deal

Polymarket is adding another major sports league to its collection.

LaLiga announced a multi-year deal Thursday to make Polymarket its exclusive prediction markets platform in the U.S. and Canada, which includes official IP and “premium broadcast visibility.”

It’s the latest sports addition for the prediction market that also has deals with MLB, the NHL, MLS, and UFC. Polymarket is winning the battle for pro sports league partnerships against rival Kalshi, which also has a deal with the NHL, but otherwise has only announced agreements with niche organizations like Pro Padel League and six-on-six soccer association Baller League, although Kalshi has NBA investors in Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kyle Kuzma.

Ari Borod, the former chief business officer of Fanatics who in February was hired as Polymarket’s president of sports business development, tells Front Office Sports that the deal with LaLiga came together pretty quickly. Discussions began after he joined Polymarket—at the time, the company was “nearing the finish line” with MLS.

“There’s a lot of investment in, and focus on, the game of soccer in the U.S. right now,” Borod tells FOS. “LaLiga is one of the most iconic sports leagues on the planet.”

Fanatics had sued Borod to block his jump to Polymarket but eventually settled out of court.

FOS first reported MLB’s deal with Polymarket last month, which came less than a year after the league told players not to use prediction markets. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) told FOS this week it’s “astonishing and appalling” that MLB would be “complicit” in an “addiction conspiracy.”

This weekend, the NFL sent letters to operators including Polymarket and Kalshi asking them to limit trades on events that can be easily manipulated like field goals, celebrity appearances, and announcer remarks. Similarly, MLB and Polymarket’s deal includes cooperating to “restrict markets that present an integrity risk” such as those on individual pitches, manager decisions, and umpire performance.

Nicolás García Hemme, managing director for LaLiga North America, tells FOS that the Spanish league and Polymarket don’t currently have any concrete trades banned on the platform.

“There’s nothing specific on, no yellow cards, no penalty kicks,” García Hemme says. “It’s more, if we deem that something is not according to our guidelines, we have the capacity to limit or block this kind of option to do prediction markets.” When asked, García Hemme did not give examples of the kinds of trades that wouldn’t fit in LaLiga’s guidelines.

Borod says “a big part of the job is focusing on setting Polymarket, and the prediction-market category in general, up for long-term success,” which includes talking about markets that are “easily susceptible to potential integrity risk.”

“That includes markets around injuries and issues a player might face off the field,” he says. “We will work closely with LaLiga to understand which markets don’t represent the league’s integrity values, and we’ll keep those out.”

MLS has pushed to have yellow and red card betting removed from betting platforms. Last month, the league handed out two lifetime suspensions to players who bet on games, including in one instance where both players wagered that one would get a yellow card, which he did.

Last month, Polymarket unveiled a platform with Palantir and TWG AI designed to address integrity concerns in sports, which will be utilized in the LaLiga deal.

García Hemme says LaLiga had conversations with different prediction markets platforms over the last couple months before coming to a “very quick deal” with Polymarket.

“We always try to be bold and disruptive in the way that we approach how we can engage with new fans,” García Hemme says.