On Tuesday, Kalshi announced it has formed a new partnership with five MLB teams.
“Today, we’re partnering with five of the most iconic teams in baseball: Dodgers, Braves, Giants, Red Sox, and Padres,” reads a social media post uploaded to the official Kalshi X account. “Baseball fans have made Kalshi part of how they engage with the game. We’re excited to keep investing in them and in the sport.”
The announcement comes as the 2026 MLB regular season winds down ahead of the postseason. Three of the five teams included in the new Kalshi partnership are based out of California. The Braves are headquartered within the state of Georgia, while the Red Sox call Massachusetts their home. Four out of the five teams have postseason aspirations for this year.
Earlier this month, Novig became the official prediction market provider of the New York Mets in a sponsorship deal that now includes Underdog branding at NYM home games. Back in March, the MLB signed a multi-year deal with Polymarket, which is worth a reported $300 million.
Polymarket has since teamed up with the New York Yankees, as prediction market partnerships within Major League Baseball continue to grow. In roughly one month, the 2026 MLB postseason will begin. This should give prediction markets that have agreed to deals with MLB teams more exposure as more games are nationally televised.
Kalshi’s partnership with the Boston Red Sox is of particular interest in legal circles, as the team’s home state (Massachusetts) is currently in litigation to geofence sports contracts from its residents and visitors. Kalshi’s sports-based contracts are currently geofenced in four states: Michigan, Massachusetts, Washington, and Nevada.
Although the Yankees and Mets have agreed to terms with two of Kalshi’s competitors, those partnerships are also of interest due to how aggressively the state of New York is pursuing legal action against sports contracts. In early August, the state of New York filed a legal complaint that seeks $36 billion (minimum) from Kalshi. According to NY Attorney General Letitia James, numerous CFTC-regulated prediction markets offer illegal, underage gambling products to individuals who are 18+ and physically located in New York.
Despite heated legal battles between states and prediction markets, the popularity of Kalshi within the United States is undeniable. As a federally regulated prediction exchange, the company has achieved more than $200 billion in notional trading volume so far in 2026.
Due to the high-profile nature of state and federal court legal battles, attorneys who represent professional sports teams are undoubtedly aware that the categorization of prediction market sports contracts is disputed. The CFTC maintains that it enjoys exclusive jurisdiction over prediction exchanges, while states argue that sports-based event contracts are merely “sports bets” disguised under novel terminology.
However, the underlying commercial interests associated with signing an exclusive deal with a prediction market app like Kalshi may override pending litigation, at least until a more definitive, nationwide ruling (presumably by the US Supreme Court) is handed down. Legal experts are forecasting that one or more prediction market cases could be heard by SCOTUS as soon as 2027, but 2028 may be a more realistic timeline for final rulings.
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