Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. signed a partnership with Kalshi, making the former MVP the first MLB player to team up with a prediction market.
- Kalshi’s new commercial with Acuna touts its pricing model and lack of a traditional house.
- Acuna’s Braves were eliminated from the playoffs the night the ad aired.
- Kalshi is reportedly in talks to sponsor MLB as a whole.
Prediction markets have made significant inroads with sports fans over the last couple of years. Event contracts have increasingly competed with traditional betting markets, with prediction market operators touting their pricing as an advantage over sportsbooks.
Sports-only prediction platform Novig made history at the end of July by becoming the first prediction market operator to partner with an MLB team, joining forces with the New York Mets. The New York Yankees partnered with Polymarket shortly thereafter. Kalshi subsequently secured partnerships with five MLB teams, including the Braves.
Kalshi’s new ad with Acuna was broadcast for the first time during Game 4 of the National League Division Series between the Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday.
A narrator says Kalshi “has the best prices because they don’t have a house.” Acuna then appears to live underneath home plate, opening it and climbing into an underground lair.
“There’s no place like under home plate, because I live here,” Acuna says. Kalshi's logo then appears at the center of the screen.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. It is unclear whether the partnership includes opportunities for Acuna beyond the new ad.
The ad will not appear during another Braves game this postseason after Wednesday’s 4-1 loss eliminated Atlanta from the best-of-five series.
Sports embrace prediction markets
Acuna is not the first sports star to partner with a prediction platform. American golfer Bryson DeChambeau became a trailblazer as the first professional athlete to sign a prediction market deal with Kalshi last year, followed by stars such as Lionel Messi and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Polymarket, Kalshi’s leading competitor, recruited figures including LeBron James, Eli Manning, and Derek Jeter.
Kalshi is also in talks to sponsor MLB, the New York Times reports.
Sports leagues have been fairly quick to embrace prediction markets despite their regulatory ambiguity. State officials argue that the platforms should be subject to the same licensing requirements as sportsbooks. Prediction market operators, meanwhile, maintain they are federally regulated entities and do not require state gambling licenses.
Partnerships with individual athletes give operators another way to reach sports fans, many of whom have seen their favorite players appear in these campaigns.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and the Major League Baseball Players Association informed players late last season that they were not allowed to trade on outcomes associated with league-sanctioned events.
