Kalshi Officially Announces Five New MLB Partners

Prediction market exchange Kalshi has officially dropped news of five new MLB partners as part of its expansion into baseball.

We reported on Kalshi’s branding being quietly revealed at the LA Dodgers stadium this week. However, Kalshi has now made the news official, with several additional partners announced.

Kalshi is now the official prediction market partner of the Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves, San Diego Padres, and San Francisco Giants.

In-Stadium Signage and ‘Fan Activations’

In a press release this week, Kalshi explained that the new partnerships will feature in-stadium signage and exclusive online sign-ups for visitors to stadiums. The Dodger Stadium will rename its Gold Glove Bar to include the Kalshi brand name.

Kalshi’s head of sports partnership, Adam Barrick, explained that it “only makes sense” that Kalshi partners with MLB brands, given that fans are “already engaging” with the platform to place trades.

Dodgers SVP of global partnerships, Lorenzo Sciarrino, added: “The Dodgers are always looking for innovative ways to connect with our fans, and Kalshi represents an exciting new category.”

Kalshi’s Love Affair with Baseball

Kalshi’s expansion into sports contracts includes baseball, with 1000s of events to trade on. Currently, futures markets offer binary choices on who will win the divisions. Kalshi claimed in its press release that trading on baseball has risen 36 times year-over-year.

Each “share” purchased resolves either at $0.00 or $1.00. Therefore, a buy of the NY Yankees at $0.25 to win the AL East Division means you would win $0.75 per share if they are crowned champs.

The nature of prediction markets is that you can bet on a team not to win a division or World Series. A ‘Yes’ on the Yankees at $0.25 means a ‘No’ on them not to win is priced at $0.75. In this case, you’d be paid $0.25 per share as the market resolves at $1.00.

With months to go until the new season, over $1 million has been traded on many division winner markets, with many times that expected for the upcoming World Series.

How Prediction Markets Continued the Baseball Love-In

It’s been a busy six months for prediction markets as they continue to embed themselves in MLB.

Polymarket became the official prediction market partner of MLB earlier this year. However, both Kalshi and Novig have secured home runs with individual team deals of their own.

Kalshi:

• LA Dodgers
• Boston Red Sox
• San Diego Padres
• San Francisco Giants
• Atlanta Braves

Polymarket:

• Major League Baseball (Official Prediction Market Partner)
• New York Yankees

Novig:

• New York Mets

Regulatory Challenges Still Ahead

A 36x year-over-year increase in baseball trading is certainly driving Kalshi’s big move into some of the major franchises in MLB.

However, it’s been a turbulent few months for prediction markets as a whole.

Exchanges like Kalshi and Polymarket are facing fights on multiple battlefronts against state regulators. So far, states with established sports betting industries, including Connecticut and New Jersey, are crying no-ball on the prediction markets’ models.

The key objection is the way, the state regulators allege, that prediction exchanges are morphing into online sportsbooks with a federal face. Unlike sites like BetMGM and bet365, Kalshi and Polymarket operate under federal regulation by the CFTC.

It’s this battle between the states, who say Kalshi and Polymarket are acting like unregulated sportsbooks, and the CFTC who says they are derivatives platforms.

With a huge explosion in contracts on MLB and other sports continuing, this is a fight that’s set to last another innings.