Sportradar has agreed to provide official sports data and integrity monitoring tools to prediction market platform Kalshi, a deal that one iGaming executive says pushes the sector closer to mainstream acceptance.
What the deal includes
The agreement, announced this month, gives Kalshi access to Sportradar's official data feeds and its integrity services. The tools are designed to detect unusual betting patterns and potential manipulation. For Kalshi — which lets users bet on outcomes like election results or economic indicators — the addition of sports data opens new markets.
A step toward legitimacy
Pierre Lindh, co-founder of iGaming media group Next.io, called the partnership another milestone in the legitimization of prediction markets. He said the involvement of a company like Sportradar signals to regulators and the public that these platforms are serious about oversight.
The insider-trading problem
Lindh also argued that a fundamental flaw in prediction markets — the risk of insider trading — may be impossible to fully eliminate. He described the problem as structurally baked into the model. No system of checks can close every loophole, he said, because the information advantage belongs to people who have access before it becomes public.
The challenge is not unique to Kalshi. Other prediction platforms face the same issue. Whether technology like Sportradar's integrity tooling can make a dent in that remains an open question.
