While most of the sports world is still figuring out how to navigate the prediction market boom, NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo is going all-in.
The Milwaukee Bucks player announced he’s a shareholder in Kalshi in an X post on Friday.
“The internet is full of opinions. I decided it was time to make some of my own,” Antetokounmpo wrote.
Kalshi said Antetokounmpo will partner with the company on marketing, live events, and other activities. Other shareholders include Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and Coinbase Ventures.
“I love the Kalshi markets and have been checking them often recently,” Antetokounmpo said in a press release. “I like to win. It’s clear to me Kalshi is going to be a winner, and I’m excited to be getting involved.”
Prediction markets are platforms where online users can buy and sell contracts based on the outcome of various events, including presidential elections, the weather, and even the political future of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro. Kalshi and Polymarket have emerged as popular platforms among users, who can make or lose large sums of money on all kinds of events unavailable in traditional gambling venues. The markets can often serve as measures of public opinion.
Some Kalshi users, for instance, got a payday earlier this week by wagering on Antetokounmpo’s future in the NBA.
Ahead of the league’s February 5 trade deadline, users speculated on whether Antetokounmpo would stay with the Milwaukee Bucks or retire from the league. Some also wagered on whether Milwaukee would trade Antetokounmpo to another team.
The contract amassed a trading volume of over $23 million.
Antetokounmpo, who ultimately remained with the Bucks, poked fun at the trade rumors in an X post on Thursday. “Legends don’t chase. They attract,” he wrote.
Following Antetokounmpo’s shareholder announcement, some fans expressed concern that he could be violating the NBA’s gambling policy and bemoaned the league’s recent embrace of sports gambling. The NBA now partners with FanDuel and displays betting odds during live broadcasts.
“A player partnering with a prediction market company? There is no conflict of interests here?” one X user asked.
A 2025 illegal sports gambling scandal involving Miami Heat player Terry Rozier and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups highlighted the potential for players and coaches to influence games and betting outcomes. A federal investigation into the accusations is ongoing.
Kalshi said Antetokounmpo is prohibited from participating in its prediction markets.
“As an active player in the NBA, Antetokounmpo will be forbidden from trading on markets related to the NBA, per Kalshi’s strict terms of service that ban insider trading and market manipulation,” the company said in a press release.
Some US lawmakers have also raised concerns that prediction markets veer too closely to traditional gambling, which is subject to stricter regulations. In January, a lawmaker introduced a bill to ban government officials from engaging in insider trading in prediction markets.
Kalshi told Business Insider this month that the company has had “dozens of conversations” with lawmakers and is a “regulatory-first company.”
