As the US Open’s main draw got underway Sunday, Front Office Sports has learned the tournament secured a new exclusive prediction-market partner at the last minute: Kalshi.
Effective immediately, Kalshi will be the exclusive prediction-market partner of the US Open, two sources tell FOS. Terms and parameters of the deal were not clear, but the agreement was not formally locked in until after last week’s qualifying rounds had concluded, the sources say.
The US Open, which is owned and operated by the U.S. Tennis Association, did not originally intend to have a prediction-market deal in place for this year’s tournament, the sources say; in fact, in recent weeks it held discussions with multiple platforms, but talks centered around match-integrity concerns and potential partnerships for next year and beyond.
However, new USTA CEO Craig Tiley, who joined the organization in February after more than a decade as CEO of Tennis Australia—the entity that puts on the Australian Open—played a major role in getting a deal done for this year’s tournament, sources tell FOS.
One source says that an “unusual” aspect of the agreement is that the USTA is blocking any other prediction-market platforms from advertising in the facility or on TV, including across ESPN, where the tournament is being broadcast.
