Sportradar: ‘Significant opportunity’ presented by MLB Polymarket partnership

In the wake of Polymarket’s recent announced partnership with Major League Baseball (MLB) in the US, Sportradar has reacted with excitement to what it considers to be an ‘opportunity’. 

Indeed, as of this week, Polymarket is now the exclusive Prediction Market Exchange Partner of MLB – an update that the prediction market operator was “honored” to announce via its LinkedIn page yesterday. This latest move has served to further embed Polymarket – and prediction markets by extension – into the world of sports.  

Co-existing deep within that framework is Sportradar, which operates exclusively as MLB’s Global Data Distributor and Integrity Partner.  

Providing comment to Global Gaming Insider on the Polymarket MLB announcement, a Sportradar spokesperson said: “As the exclusive global data distributor and integrity partner for Major League Baseball, we see a significant opportunity to monetize our products and services in prediction markets.  

“Similar to our approach with online sports betting, our commercial agreements will be varied and structured to optimize value. Our arrangement with MLB reflects this approach providing Polymarket with MLB data and the opportunity to provide our broad suite of products and services, as well as an ability to provide these to other participants in the prediction markets.” 

In the wake of Sportradar’s recent departure from the American Gaming Association (AGA), which has expressed its opposition to prediction markets in the US, it is no surprise to see the sports betting data supplier allude to further alignment with the explosively popular albeit controversial sector.  

Also outlined as part of this new collaboration is a Memorandum of Understanding between MLB and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which regulates prediction markets at federal level. This MoU seeks to establish an integrity and protection framework between the pair – spelling further potential alignment with Sportradar as an official integrity partner of MLB.  

It has been a busy week for Polymarket, who prior to this announcement also recently unveiled the launch of its new ‘Situation Room’ bar in Washington, D.C.