Kalshi named exclusive prediction market partner of the US Open
Ecosystem ·
The CFTC-regulated exchange has reportedly locked out rival prediction platforms from advertising at the tennis tournament and on ESPN broadcasts.
Kalshi has become the exclusive prediction market partner of the US Open, a deal that reportedly bars competing platforms from advertising both at the tournament venue and across ESPN, according to The Block. The arrangement gives Kalshi a captive audience at one of the most-watched events on the US sports calendar while shutting out other event-contract venues from a major advertising channel.
The partnership fits a broader pattern of Kalshi pushing into mainstream media and sports properties as it seeks to normalize prediction markets as financial products rather than gambling. Kalshi operates as a designated contract market under CFTC oversight, a status that lets it list event-linked contracts on sports, elections, macro data, and crypto prices while subjecting it to exchange-level rules on fair access, surveillance, and manipulation controls, per the background explainer on the platform. That regulatory footing distinguishes it from offshore or crypto-native prediction protocols and underpins its recent expansion into media tie-ins.
The US Open deal follows other recent media moves attributed to Kalshi, including a reported plan for Fox News to integrate sponsored prediction market odds from the platform, part of a wider effort to embed Kalshi's pricing and contracts into consumer-facing broadcasts rather than confining them to a standalone trading app.
The exclusivity arrangement also arrives as Kalshi faces mounting regulatory and legal scrutiny elsewhere. The Department of Justice and the CFTC have moved to block an Arizona prosecution targeting Kalshi's sports and election contracts, arguing those products qualify as regulated financial swaps under federal law, while Kalshi has separately said it is rolling out a parent portal and AI checks aimed at preventing underage users from exploiting identification loopholes. Bipartisan scrutiny from the House has also touched Kalshi alongside other prediction market and event-contract platforms as the CFTC signals incoming rules for the sector.
What remains unclear is the exact commercial terms of the US Open agreement, including its duration and financial value, as well as how strictly the advertising exclusivity will be enforced across ESPN's various properties. Also unresolved is how competing platforms such as Polymarket or newer entrants like Crypto.com's High Roller venture will respond to being locked out of a major sports advertising channel, and whether similar exclusive sponsorship deals will follow at other high-profile US sporting events.