CNN makes prediction market data deal with Kalshi
US broadcaster CNN has signed an exclusive partnership with prediction market platform Kalshi.
According to an exclusive report by Axios, the deal will provide CNN with access to real-time prediction market data to utilize across all its television, digital, and social platforms.
The agreement is Kalshi’s first major collaboration with a national news outlet as it attempts to position its probability data as a tool for interpreting global events.
The deal is reported to include data on political, cultural, and weather events, but does not mention sports data despite that making up by far the greatest proportion of Kalshi’s recent trading volume.
CNN will receive Kalshi’s data through a continuous API update. The broadcaster plans to display the information on air through a real-time ticker and incorporate it into its regular reporting and analysis.
CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten will lead the integration, using the data in on-air segments and on the network’s streaming service. Other CNN journalists will also have access to the information for analytical and fact-checking purposes.
Although CNN is not paying to license the data, the arrangement is exclusive, meaning the network will rely solely on Kalshi for prediction market information.
The agreement comes amid growing interest from news organizations in using prediction market data. Yahoo Finance, Sports Illustrated, and Time have all announced partnerships with prediction platforms in recent months.
Kalshi itself has also gone through a rapid growth period, recently announcing that it had raised US$1 billion in a Series E funding round, doubling the company’s valuation from US$5 billion in October to US$11 billion.
Charlotte Capewell brings her passion for storytelling and expertise in writing, researching, and the gambling industry to every article she writes. Her specialties include the US gambling industry, regulator legislation, igaming, and more.
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The Backstory
Why prediction odds are on air now
CNN’s move to pipe real-time probabilities from Kalshi into broadcasts and digital products caps a year when event markets jumped from niche finance to mainstream news and sports chatter. The network plans to lean on the data for on-air tickers and analysis, a bet that live, crowd-priced expectations can sharpen coverage of politics, culture and weather. The deal is exclusive, a first of its kind for Kalshi with a national news outlet, and arrives as media companies seek tools to explain volatile cycles faster than polls or punditry.
The timing reflects a broader shift: event contracts have multiplied, volumes have surged and the lines between prediction markets, sports betting and financial hedging are blurring. Kalshi, once known mostly for policy and macro questions, has turned toward high-frequency categories that drive daily engagement. That pivot helps explain why a broadcaster would commit to a single data feed. It also raises questions about methodology, guardrails and conflicts as market-based “odds” become part of mainstream narratives.
Sports push recast the business
Kalshi’s audience and volumes changed as it added sports to its catalogue. The company began offering federally regulated contracts tied to major sports outcomes in January, after filing with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Its first listings went live Jan. 23 with “will [team] win [title]” formats, placing sports alongside politics and culture on the same exchange. The step followed a public clash last year over election markets that Kalshi ultimately won, an episode that elevated the platform’s profile with traders and newsrooms alike. For detail on the sports rollout and the regulatory context, see Kalshi launches event contracts on sports.
The sports pivot rippled across gambling equities when Kalshi added an NFL parlay product in September. Investors briefly punished big-name sportsbooks on fears a regulated event exchange could siphon parlay dollars, a lucrative category for traditional operators. But subsequent data showed the initial shock overshot the fundamentals. In the two weeks after launch, parlay volume reached about $10 million at its peak and represented a small share of overall activity compared with hundreds of millions in weekly NFL contracts. The episode underscored Kalshi’s growing footprint while tempering expectations for near-term disruption of sportsbook economics. Read the market context in Market overreacted to Kalshi’s NFL parlay launch.
For media partners, that evolution matters. Sports drives habitual engagement and clear, high-velocity signals that translate cleanly to graphics and tickers. It also introduces an audience that may treat probabilities less as hedging tools and more as entertainment, a shift that brings its own reputational and compliance considerations when data appears on a news screen.
Regulatory knives are out in the states
As Kalshi expands, state-level regulators have challenged its authority to offer sports-related event contracts within their borders. The company argues its products are federally regulated derivatives supervised by the CFTC on a designated exchange, not state-regulated sports bets. That distinction is now being tested in courtrooms. Kalshi recently sued the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Commission after a cease-and-desist order, seeking an injunction and declaring Maryland’s move preempted by federal law. The company also won a temporary injunction against the Nevada Gaming Control Board, signaling that judges are weighing federal primacy over event contracts.
For a national news network committing to a single source, these disputes pose practical risks. If key states force the exchange to alter product menus or access, the composition and depth of markets that inform CNN’s on-air probabilities could fluctuate. The legal trajectory will shape how comprehensive and durable the data set remains. It will also determine whether rivals can replicate the model without facing fragmented, state-by-state limits that erode liquidity.
Washington’s spotlight and the conflict question
The governance debate has moved from court filings to Capitol Hill. The return of a former CFTC commissioner as a nominee to lead the agency has put prediction markets under sharper scrutiny. Brian Quintenz, a Kalshi director who has pledged to divest if confirmed, defended the economic utility of event contracts during a June hearing, even as senators pressed him on conflicts. Coverage of that appearance and his ties to prediction platforms is in Kalshi director and CFTC nominee advocates for prediction markets.
What happens at the CFTC matters for how CNN’s new data partner operates. The agency has already signaled, through its engagement with rival products, that not all event contracts are equal. Crypto.com’s Super Bowl markets, for instance, drew regulator pushback. In contrast, Kalshi’s exchange offers contracts within a framework the company says is squarely under the CFTC’s remit. Any changes to that posture—through enforcement, rulemaking or leadership priorities—could reshape which categories remain on offer and the cadence of approvals for new ones.
Distribution wars: partnerships to the consumer edge
The media tie-up is part of a broader push to route regulated prediction markets into consumer-facing platforms. Daily fantasy operator PrizePicks rolled out a feature that integrates Kalshi markets via a federally approved futures commission merchant, expanding access across 38 states and Washington, D.C. The integration adds team and culture picks to a gaming app already familiar to millions of users, extending event contracts into entertainment contexts far from Wall Street terminals. See PrizePicks integrates Kalshi prediction markets for how distribution is widening.
For CNN, the strategic logic rhymes. Prediction data is crossing into places where consumers already spend time—news feeds, fantasy apps, streaming screens—rather than forcing them onto specialized exchanges. That diffusion can deepen liquidity by drawing in casual participants, which, in turn, can improve signal quality for editorial use. It also increases the stakes for accuracy and disclosure. When newsroom graphics cite market-implied probabilities, audiences will need clear labels about what contracts measure, how markets can swing on liquidity, and why a price moved during news coverage of the very event it is meant to forecast.
What to watch next
Several threads will determine whether CNN’s exclusive becomes a template for other outlets or a one-off. First, regulatory clarity: state challenges and CFTC oversight will define the breadth of categories available and the stability of the feed. Second, market composition: if sports remains the dominant driver of volume, the feed’s most robust signals may cluster around games, not policy or weather. Third, competitive responses: more publishers are experimenting with prediction partners, and crossovers like PrizePicks signal a fight to own the consumer interface.
Finally, accountability standards will matter as much as code. Prediction markets can outperform polls in some contexts but are not infallible. Transparent methodology, clear disclaimers and rigorous editorial use will decide whether audiences view these numbers as informative probabilities or as another flavor of hype. As the legal and market terrain shifts, the value of CNN’s bet will hinge on whether prediction data can consistently illuminate stories rather than simply animate screens.
