- Several high-profile pro athletes have endorsement or investment deals with prediction market platforms.
- Renowned sports agent Leigh Steinberg says advises athletes against promoting sports betting.
- The NFL and NBA have partnerships with sportsbooks but have not engaged with prediction markets.
A growing list of professional athletes, including some of the biggest names in sports, have endorsement or investment deals with prediction markets.
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PGA golfer Bryson DeChambeau became Kalshi’s first individual athlete partner in January. Miami Heat center Giannis Antetokounmpo invested in Kalshi. Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley is a Polymarket investor. New Philadelphia 76er LeBron James endorses Polymarket.
At least one athlete, San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama, said he would never promote a sports betting site.
“Honestly, I think it’s very sad to see some players promote it. Everybody does whatever they want, but without me,” he told ESPN earlier this month.
Should pro athletes promote sports gambling?
Leigh Steinberg, a longtime sports agent known for representing star NFL quarterbacks and helping inspire the movie “Jerry Maguire,” has advice for athletes thinking about signing on with a prediction market platform or sportsbook: “Not to do it.”
“I don’t think it’s a good look. I think there’s scandals that are going to occur,” he said in a Deseret News interview. “It’s Black Sox waiting to happen.”
In 1919, eight Chicago White Sox players were accused of intentionally losing the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for money from gamblers. It became known as the Black Sox Scandal.
More recently, federal authorities charged more than a dozen college basketball players in a point-shaving scheme and two major league baseball players in a pitch-rigging scheme.
Steinberg, who has represented 64 first-round NFL picks, including eight No. 1 overall picks, called sports betting a “ticking time bomb” in a New York Times op-ed earlier this year.
“Let’s not be naive. There’s always gambling. It’s always been an attraction in sports,” he said in the interview. “But I’m just afraid that it’s the law of unintended consequences.”
Gambling on both professional and college sports has exploded since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal ban in 2018. At least 38 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico now allow commercial sports betting in some form.
Sports betting has become embedded in American culture. Sportsbooks and prediction markets are everywhere, from nonstop advertising to social media feeds to in-game commentary. It has gone from the fringes of society to mainstream.
“So everywhere you go, in every venue, in nonstop television ads, the inducement to bet is presented as an amazing experience that’s part of the good life,” Steinberg said.
NFL resisting prediction market partnership
Leagues, teams and players have partnerships with traditional sports books or emerging prediction markets. Some promote both.
Steinberg said the Supreme Court decision shattered the once impregnable wall between sports and gambling. “It’s a slippery slope,” he said. “And I believe that there’ll be full integration of gambling into professional and collegiate sports.”
Predictions markets have brought a new dynamic to sports betting, which are under federal, not state regulation.
Three major professional sports leagues in the United States have embraced prediction markets, and a fourth has reportedly been in talks over a potential partnership.
But the National Football League — the biggest and most popular league in the country — remains a holdout on the rapidly growing platform that allows wagering on anything and everything, particularly sports.
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The NFL asked the U.S. Supreme Court last week to review a arguing that prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket should be regulated more in line with traditional sports betting companies. The league said it has engaged with legal sportsbooks and state gaming authorities to support laws that provide integrity and consumer protections.
“But now a new form of sports betting has emerged that undermines these efforts and threatens game integrity: sports betting on prediction markets,” according to the 24-page brief.
The NFL filed the amicus or friend-of-the-court brief in a New Jersey case involving Kalshi that asserts sports contracts on prediction markets belong under state gambling laws. Currently, the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which historically monitored futures contracts on things such as livestock, crude oil and gold and silver prices, oversees prediction markets.
The league says it’s important to have clarity before another season goes by. “Billions of dollars will be bet on NFL games through prediction markets each season, and any delay from the Court will result in increasing consumer harm and risk to game integrity,” the brief says.
According to the brief, Kalshi has resisted “commonsense measures” the NFL has requested.
“Contrary to the NFL’s statements, the CFTC is actively policing sports-related markets, which are now listed on nearly every US commodities exchange,” Kalshi said in a statement, per The Athletic. “The CFTC’s ongoing rulemaking addresses many of the NFL’s supposed concerns.”
While the NFL has resisted prediction markets, it does have deals with the two most popular sportsbooks, DraftKings and FanDuel, as well as Fanatics Sportsbook. The league prohibits active players from endorsing sports books and prediction markets.
NBA wants access to prediction market data
The NBA, too, has yet to sign a deal with a prediction market platform. Commissioner Adam Silver wants access to prediction market data to regulate and detect insider trading.
“Whether it’s called a prediction market, whether it’s sports betting, it’s the same issues for our league and I think for all the leagues, there’s issues around integrity first and foremost,” he told CNBC’s Contessa Brewer in a “Squawk Box” interview. “We want access to that data. We also want control of the market.”
Silver’s comments came after the NFL filed its brief with the Supreme Court in support of a New Jersey case that asserts sports contracts on prediction markets belong under state gambling laws. Currently, the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which historically monitored futures contracts on things such as livestock, crude oil and gold and silver prices, oversees prediction markets.
The NBA partners with FanDuel and DraftKings. It also has authorized gaming operators that include BetMGM, Caesars, Fanatics, bet365, BetRivers, Bally Bet, Hard Rock and theScore Bet. Unlike the NFL, the NBA allows active players to promote sports gambling sites under strict rules.
Steinberg agrees that the NBA should have access to prediction market data.
“The more regulations there are in this field, the better chance they have to prevent operational scandals,” he said.
Perils of sports gambling
The erosion of integrity in the game is one of Steinberg’s main concerns about sports betting. Fans need to know games are played on an even playing field, he said.
“We root for pro and collegiate sports because we assume they’re real contests with the same rules, both sides trying as hard as they can,” he said.
“And if an athlete shares inside information with a gambler or becomes in debt to a gambler and shares inside information, or if that athlete shades performance, and this becomes public, then all of a sudden pro and collegiate sports resemble wrestling, being an entertainment but not a true sport.”
Steinberg also worries that “glamorous” advertising is attracting a generation of potential gambling addicts.
“It sort of reminds me of smoking, right?” he said. “When you glorify the good life in these ads, and run very seductive ads and understand subliminal advertising and how to plant messages, I believe it’s going to create a massive amount of gambling addicts, people who start to get into it a little bit and then get really behind in the amount of money they owe.”
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