NHL licenses Kalshi, Polymarket for official prediction markets

The National Hockey League has struck multiyear licensing agreements with prediction market platforms Kalshi and Polymarket that will allow both companies to create officially branded NHL-related markets, league and company officials said Tuesday. The deals mark the first time a major U.S. professional sports league has granted this range of intellectual property rights to crypto-focused prediction exchanges, enabling markets tied to games, seasons, team names and trademarked terms such as Stanley Cup.

League officials and executives from the platforms said the arrangements are intended to expand fan engagement by integrating official NHL data and branding into forecasting markets. The agreements give Kalshi and Polymarket the same basic package of rights typically licensed to sportsbook operators, though the platforms differ from traditional bookmakers in how their contracts are structured and regulated.

Kalshi is a federally regulated exchange overseen by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and has marketed itself on that basis. The company recently raised more than $300 million at a valuation near $5 billion, executives said, and has reported rapid growth in daily active...