Last month, LeBron James made headlines by signing a significant deal with Polymarket, transitioning to the prediction market operator after the conclusion of his previous multi-year contract with DraftKings. James, who holds the record as the NBA's all-time leading scorer, finalized this agreement just weeks before taking the court for his first regular-season game with the Philadelphia 76ers. With this move, he joined a notable group of celebrities endorsing Polymarket, including Eli Manning, Derek Jeter, and Spike Lee. However, another prominent athlete in Philadelphia has recently distanced himself from the platform.
Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley announced earlier this week that he has divested from Polymarket. The three-time Pro Bowler shared with Front Office Sports that the decision came on the advice of the NFL, which has consistently expressed opposition to the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s proposed regulations surrounding sports event contracts. Barkley indicated the guidance was issued prior to the current regular season. "I was in it before, but no bueno," he remarked during the interview.
While the NFL appears unlikely to establish a partnership with any prediction market soon, the NBA has proactively signed a comprehensive Memorandum of Understanding with the CFTC this week. This agreement establishes a structure for event contracts within the NBA, naming Kalshi and Polymarket as its preferred partners. Additionally, the NBA has secured veto rights to block contracts deemed objectionable.
Kalshi has been embroiled in legal challenges from numerous states over the last year, with federal circuit courts divided on the classification of sports event contracts as swaps. Recently, the stakes were heightened by a criminal complaint from Utah Attorney General Derek Brown, which names Kalshi executives CEO Tarek Mansour and COO Luana Lopes Lara as defendants. The complaint, filed on October 29, resulted from an undercover operation where an agent placed 12 sports trades totaling $114.87 on the platform.
The complaint followed Utah’s lawsuit against Kalshi, labeling gambling a "public nuisance" that causes "substantial harm" to residents. The executives face 12 charges related to online gaming promotion, along with one count for a pattern of unlawful activity. A spokesperson for Kalshi criticized the actions, stating, "This is a crazy overreach; Utah is clearly playing politics. We look forward to putting a stop to this."
In a separate development, Kalshi completed a $1 billion funding round, reaching a valuation of $40 billion. The latest investment, led by Sequoia Capital and Wellington Management, marks a notable increase from its $22 billion valuation in May, reflecting a rise of 81.8% within a few months. For context, Kalshi's valuation was approximately $5 billion in October 2025.
Polymarket faced its own challenges recently when it temporarily suspended trading on its offshore exchange due to a security breach that compromised the accounts of several users. For about four hours on Thursday, trading was halted following a cyber attack that resulted in the theft of approximately $2.73 million from around 737 user accounts within an hour. Polymarket linked the intrusion to a vulnerability found in DebugBear, a third-party monitoring service.
In a statement on social media platform X, Polymarket assured affected users, "Anyone who has been impacted will be made whole." Most of the impacted accounts belonged to retail traders, with many losing less than $1,000; around 40% of these accounts experienced losses under $100, while the median loss amounted to $171. Notably, some larger accounts were significantly affected, with four accounts experiencing losses over $100,000, equating to 43% of those compromised.
As of Friday afternoon, Polymarket reported that at least 689 of the impacted accounts were fully refunded and confirmed their cooperation with law enforcement in an ongoing investigation.
