Major League Baseball, which has long had an issue with illegal gambling and is currently in the midst of another scandal involving two Cleveland Guardians pitchers, announced two new agreements, including one that named Polymarket as MLB’s official prediction market exchange.
In addition, MLB commissioner Robert Manfred signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Michael Selig, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), one year after MLB wrote a letter to the CFTC calling for strong integrity protections in the rapidly evolving prediction market space.
MLB says it pursued this agreement with the CFTC to further protect baseball’s integrity by ensuring a swift response to incidents and anticipating emerging trends more effectively. The league hopes their integrity commitments in the Polymarket agreement and the CFTC’s clear collaborative intent provide a critical step toward a strong integrity framework within the prediction market space.
“The new agreements that we formed with Polymarket and the CFTC are imperative steps in proactively managing the new and rapidly growing prediction market space,” Manfred said. “Protecting the integrity of the game on the field is our top priority. By engaging in this community, we are able to work together to create clear boundaries with the goal of mitigating risk while providing fan engagement opportunities.”
As part of Polymarket’s official partnership with MLB, Polymarket and its brokers will get exclusive access to MLB marks and logos to be used within their prediction market products. Polymarket will also get access to official league data from Sportradar, MLB’s exclusive global distributor of data for prediction markets, and receive brand exposure across MLB’s digital ecosystem and at league events.
A key component of the partnership between MLB and Polymarket will be establishing a comprehensive integrity framework, including working together to restrict markets that pose integrity risks to MLB, such as individual pitches, manager decisions, and umpire performance, among others. Polymarket will also integrate integrity controls into its US Rulebook to ensure all of its brokers are held to the same integrity standards.
Under the terms of the MOU, MLB and the CFTC memorialized their intent to share information regarding the integrity of professional baseball and related prediction markets. Shared information will be treated confidentially, facilitating open lines of communication. Designated representatives will meet regularly to identify and discuss any issues that may impact the integrity of MLB’s games and the MLB prediction market landscape.
While Polymarket will be MLB’s official prediction market exchange with exclusive rights, MLB intends to maintain integrity relationships with all other prediction market exchanges offering baseball contracts. Those exchanges will be required to integrate the necessary integrity protections into their individual rulebooks.
MLB gambling partnerships
MLB previously signed an agreement with DraftKings that provided expanding content rights, product integrations, and access to official MLB branding, and then later launched a “Bet and Watch” feature that allowed fans to link their MLB account with their DraftKings account.
DraftKings was also given on-site brand exposure during many of MLB’s major events, and the gambling company was given access as an authorized gaming operator by MLB.
The National Problem Gambling Helpline™ (1-800-MY-RESET) is operated by the National Council on Problem Gambling. The helpline serves as a one-stop hub connecting people looking for assistance with a gambling problem to local resources. This network includes contact centers covering all 50 states and U.S. territories.
The National Problem Gambling Helpline™ offers call, text and chat services 24/7/365.
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