Prediction Markets Target Cincinnati, Indian Wells, and DC Open Following Kalshi-US Open Deal

Several prominent combined ATP and WTA tournaments have received interest from prediction-market companies, building directly on the US Open’s exclusive partnership with Kalshi.

Bob Moran, tournament director of the Cincinnati Open, said: “There’s a lot of different spaces that are showing interest [in the Cincinnati Open]. Crypto is one, predictive markets is another.” The Cincinnati Open was voted Tournament of the Year by players of both tours in 2025. A spokesperson for the BNP Paribas Open, also known as Indian Wells, said the tournament is “open to a partnership in the prediction market category and are currently having some exploratory conversations.”

Mark Ein, owner and chairman of the DC Open, said the tournament has received “real interest” from prediction-market companies. Ein added: “It’s just that they hadn’t figured out tennis yet and what they wanted to do. Obviously, tennis has been hugely popular for the betting companies, and it makes a ton of sense that it would too for the prediction markets companies. They just weren’t quite there yet.” None of the tournaments identified the specific firms involved.

Sponsorship Rules, Market Data, and Integrity Oversight

The ATP and WTA rulebooks state that tennis tournaments may enter into a “sponsorship agreement” with a tennis betting operator, subject to strict guidelines that prohibit players or their teams from inclusion in marketing content. Kalshi holds a 91% U.S. market share as of earlier this summer. Polymarket announced a streaming rights partnership with the ATP earlier this month.

Tennis ranks among the world’s three most-bet-upon sports according to Sportradar and is historically one of the most vulnerable to match fixing. The International Tennis Integrity Authority was established in 2021. The ITIA stated: “Betting and trading markets are evolving extremely quickly, and the emergence of prediction and other non-traditional markets bring new opportunities and risk to all sports – including tennis. Whilst commercial deals are outside of our scope, we are working closely with our funders on the identification and the management of the risks.” This assessment, reported by Front Office Sports, underscores the tension between new revenue streams and existing integrity structures.

The Player Experience and Integrity Risks

Players hold mixed views on expanded betting visibility. Jessica Pegula said: “We get a lot of negativity from people that use stuff like that, from bettors. Whether you win or lose, right? It doesn’t even matter sometimes. And we get a lot of hate for it on social media, so it’s tough when you see that they’re a big sponsor behind the court or they’re on TV.” Matteo Berrettini reported family threats tied to match outcomes that were forwarded to the ATP. The latest WTA and World Tennis online-abuse report identified more than 12,000 abusive posts, nearly 4,000 of which qualified as serious abuse involving violent, sexual, racist, or targeted threats.

These early conversations between tournaments and prediction-market operators will test whether current ATP and WTA sponsorship guardrails and ITIA protocols can scale to address the distinct risks prediction markets introduce. Organizers and governing bodies should treat the exploratory phase as an opportunity to stress-test integrity measures before any deals are finalized.

Reporting: Front Office Sports – sports betting

Generated by SCCG’s automated editorial system from published source reporting. SCCG Management holds editorial responsibility.