The Nationwide Hockey League (NHL) has reached licensing agreements with prediction market platforms Kalshi and Polymarket, making it the primary main US skilled sports activities league to allow using its logos by prediction markets, or “licensed betting markets.”
As The Wall Avenue Journal reported on Oct. 22, the multiyear offers grant each platforms rights to make use of the NHL emblem, phrases reminiscent of “NHL” and “Stanley Cup,” and particular person crew names.
The mental property bundle is identical that the league extends to sportsbook operators reminiscent of DraftKings, FanDuel, and BetMGM.
The agreements formalize the push of prediction markets into sports activities betting, an incursion that has drawn authorized challenges from state regulators and outcry from gambling-industry teams.
Kalshi and Polymarket supply occasion contracts on video games that operate equally to conventional sports activities bets, however function below the oversight of the Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee (CFTC) fairly than state gaming commissions.
As a federally licensed alternate, Kalshi affords sports activities occasion contracts in all 50 states, together with jurisdictions that limit betting on normal sportsbooks. In the meantime, Polymarket is within the late levels of a US comeback.
Keith Wachtel, president of NHL enterprise, acknowledged:
“Prediction markets are right here to remain. Partnering with Kalshi and Polymarket might develop the league’s fan base to the tech-savvy customers of prediction markets, Wachtel added, whereas noting that sportsbooks stay “essential companions” of the NHL.”
Quantity surge and market share
The partnership arrives as prediction markets file multibillion-dollar quarterly volumes. Kalshi and Polymarket are the biggest platforms, accounting for 46.6% and 52.1% of the market, respectively, as of final week.
In response to a Dune dashboard by consumer dunedata, Kalshi’s quantity elevated from $1.9 billion within the second quarter to $4.5 billion within the third quarter. As compared, Polymarket’s quantity rose from $3.2 billion to $3.7 billion throughout the identical interval.
Mixed volumes for the earlier quarter quantity to $8.2 billion, representing a 61% improve over the second quarter’s outcomes.
Kalshi has loved file volumes since Sept. 29, when it launched a product just like same-game parlays, and brokerage Robinhood Markets introduced surging volumes in sports activities contracts.
Since that date, DraftKings shares have dropped 27%, whereas shares of FanDuel father or mother Flutter Leisure have fallen 14%.
A parlay combines two or extra wagers, reminiscent of betting on outcomes of separate video games, right into a single wager.
Earlier than the NHL deal, Kalshi averted utilizing trademarked phrases reminiscent of “NFL” or “Tremendous Bowl” on its platform, as an alternative referring to “Professional soccer champion” and figuring out groups by their cities.
The NHL and different leagues have traditionally protected their mental property from unauthorized use.
The licensing agreements take away that constraint, permitting Kalshi and Polymarket to market sports activities contracts utilizing official league branding.
In the meantime, established sportsbooks have tailored accordingly. DraftKings acquired Railbird Applied sciences, which owns a CFTC-licensed alternate, as a part of a technique to enter prediction markets.
In August, FanDuel partnered with the CME Group, an alternate operator, to develop a buying and selling platform just like Kalshi’s.
Polymarket obtained a $2 billion funding dedication from the father or mother firm of the New York Inventory Change earlier this month, supporting the startup’s plans to relaunch within the US within the coming months.
Polymarket stopped serving Individuals in a 2022 settlement with the CFTC however acquired a small CFTC-regulated alternate in July.
The alternate, now often known as Polymarket US, plans to record contracts on sports activities and elections, based on regulatory filings.
The earlier quarter’s development and the latest partnership display that prediction rails have captured materials market share from conventional operators, with sports activities IP accelerating adoption amongst retail customers who beforehand accessed betting solely by means of extra established names.
