Polymarket announced today that it has been named the official prediction market partner of NHL team the New York Rangers.
The professional hockey league became the first major U.S. sports league to embrace prediction markets when it announced in October of 2025 that it had signed multi-year partnership agreements with both Polymarket and its main competitor, Kalshi. Just before Christmas, the Chicago Blackhawks became the first North American sports team to partner with a prediction market platform when it announced a brand partnership with Kalshi.
Jamaal Lesane, Chief Operating Officer of MSG Sports, which owns the Rangers and the NBA’s New York Knicks, called the exclusive partnership with the New York City-headquartered prediction market company a “perfect fit.”
“This is a landmark partnership for the Rangers in this new and exciting category, and Polymarket is the perfect fit as one of the most reliable and forward-thinking prediction market operators,” Lesane said in a news release. “Polymarket becomes not just an Official Partner of the Rangers, but they will also be involved across digital channels, fan activations and promotions at Rangers games.”
Deal gives Polymarket branding presence at MSG and during broadcasts
As part of the agreement, Polymarket branding will be featured during Ranger games at Madison Square Garden (MSG) via on-ice contests, concourse activities, and signage, including digital graphics on the dasher boards that will be seen during local and nationally televised games. As an official partner of the Garden Cup professional tennis tournament, Polymarket had similar exposure at MSG during last month’s events.
Polymarket will also be featured on advertisement boards outside of MSG, giving the brand further exposure to the many people who walk/drive by the area in Manhattan daily.
Beyond the on-rink digital signage, Polymarket will have additional presence during Rangers game broadcasts on MSG Networks as the presenting sponsor of their “In-Game Polls” segments, which will likely include Rangers-related odds from the prediction platform. According to the news release, Polymarket will also be featured in post-game segments and branded commercials.
Polymarket founder and CEO Shayne Coplan said the partnership will bring “a new, dynamic layer of engagement to the fan experience” for one of the most dedicated fanbases in sports.
“Prediction markets offer fans a real-time, interactive way to connect with the game, and the Rangers are an ideal franchise to bring this experience to a broader audience,” Coplan said in the release.
NHL early to embrace prediction markets
The NHL’s deal also gave Polymarket (and Kalshi) a presence during league-wide national game broadcasts. That initial deal additionally gives the prediction exchanges’ access to official NHL data, as well as the right to use official NHL branding and logos with their hockey markets.
Previously, due to concerns over copyright pushback, both platforms didn’t use official logos or team names with their NHL markets. This remains the standard practice for the exchanges’ other sports markets, which use only the teams’ city and color schemes. The NHL deal appears to be only related to Polymarket’s U.S. operations. While the U.S. app (which soft launched late last year with only sports markets) uses official logos and team names, Polymarket’s on-chain international platform still uses the generic markings for NHL markets.
A benefit of the prediction markets deal for the NHL is that it reportedly gives the league some say over what types of markets are made available. During an appearance on CNBC’s Squawk Box late last year, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said the agreements give the league some control of the markets “because we have the ability to take down any contracts we don’t think are appropriate.”
Other leagues concerned about regulatory requirements
Bettman’s comments about market control came as other sports leagues, specifically the NBA and MLB, were dealing with scandals in which players were accused of coordinated schemes to manipulate sports betting outcomes with their on-court/field performances. Bettman said that he didn’t think NHL games were as vulnerable to such manipulation, but that the prediction market agreements serve as an additional “protective” measure.
The NBA, NFL and MLB have all pushed for sportsbooks and regulators to not allow certain types of bets deemed prone to such abuse.
Those leagues, which all have partnerships with traditional sportsbook operators, have also expressed concern about integrity risks and regulatory requirements related to sports prediction markets, which they see as less adequate than state-level sports betting rules and safety guardrails. MLB, NFL and NBA have all sent letters to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which regulates prediction markets on a federal level, asking that those concerns be addressed. The CFTC has not publicly commented on any potential measures it may take in response to the leagues’ letters.
Polymarket, Kalshi use integrity monitors for sports contracts
For Kalshi’s part, the company has been quick to defend accusations that it lacks the same safeguards as sportsbooks employ. Kalshi partners with Integrity Compliance 360 (IC360), an integrity monitoring service that works with leagues, as well as several sportsbooks, and has the same kind of KYC requirements as sports betting operators.
Polymarket has been less vocal about its integrity measures, but Sports Business Journal reported that part of the NHL deals was an agreement to adhere to the same integrity provisions as is required of the league’s sportsbook partners. The report said that included working with NHL data feed partner Sportradar and IC360, which both platforms already use, the NHL’s president of business, Keith Wachtel, told the outlet.
The leagues’ prediction market integrity concerns are part of the reason they haven’t yet partnered with any prediction market platform like the NHL has. Given their sportsbook partnerships, they may also be reluctant to get involved due to the ongoing state challenges over the platforms’ right to offer sports event contracts in their jurisdictions, arguing that they are nothing more than sanctioned sports betting.
But the NHL’s prediction market partnerships giving them some say over what markets are offered may help soften those seemingly hardline stances against prediction platforms. It seems likely that, barring a nationwide ban on sports contracts, another league will test the waters at some point.
