Best Sports Prediction Market Sites 2026: Compare Sports Markets, Contracts, and Fees

Must-know facts about prediction markets for sports

• The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulates sports prediction markets.
• You can predict game winners, spreads, totals, props, outrights, and more.
• Access to sports prediction markets depends on your state.

How to trade in sports prediction markets

Prediction market sites use event contracts that cost from $0.01 to $0.99. The contracts settle at $1 if the outcome you selected happens and $0 if it did not happen. Let’s give an example with this basketball event we found on Kalshi:

You simply buy Yes if you believe the OKC Thunder will win and No if you think they won’t.

Consider buying 100 Yes contracts for $25, and the team eventually wins. If so, the payout will be $100, resulting in a $75 profit. This Yes/No contract trading format is not just for sports. If you check climate, crypto, culture, economics, and politics prediction market sites, you’ll see the same pattern.

One distinction we want you to understand is how the sports contract rates are determined. Prediction market brands don’t set the prices directly. Traders do, as they buy and sell, because the market is P2P. That means the rate will increase if more people are purchasing and decrease if more are selling.

Since the contract price depends on traders’ activities, it can be translated as an estimated probability. Consider our earlier NBA game example. The prices indicate that traders believe there’s about a 25% chance that the OKC Thunder will win and approximately a 76% likelihood that they won’t.

Top 5 sports prediction market sites in the US

Since the niche is the most popular, you’ll see sports on almost all US prediction market platforms. But for the best trading experience, pick one of our five recommendations below:

Polymarket – 20+ sports with combos

Some prediction market sites list fewer than 10 sports, whereas we counted over 20 on Polymarket. It comes as no surprise that the MLB, NFL, NBA, and NHL are the top leagues on the platform. There’s also tennis, soccer, MMA, boxing, cricket, darts, and even esports.

Polymarket supports game winners, spreads, and totals for most games. Beyond those three, the additional markets depend on the sport. For example, we traded outcomes on innings and player props like home runs and strikeouts in the MLB. You can view the contract price in USD, moneyline, percentage, or decimal format.

When on the Polymarket app, it’s hard to miss the purple ‘Build a Combo’ button. The feature lets you combine contracts from multiple events into a single trade, for a higher payout if all predictions are correct. With a first deposit of at least $10, you’ll get a $25 welcome bonus from Polymarket after registration.

Kalshi – Fast live trading updates plus good liquidity

Kalshi gets our recommendation for live sports prediction trading. In other words, you buy and sell event contracts as the games are ongoing. You’ll see these live events at the top when you open the sports section, before the upcoming games.

Live trading on Kalshi was convenient for us because the site updates prices quickly. While watching the markets, we spotted plus signs next to figures — like + $10 — indicating real-time orders by active traders. There’s also a graph tracking the outcomes, rising and falling based on the probabilities.

In live markets, quick buys and sells can increase bid-ask spreads. Thankfully, Kalshi has a large trader base to add liquidity, keeping the spread low on popular games. To illustrate, we saw over $13 million in trading volume for the Butterfield Bermuda Championship Winner market in golf. The amount can be much higher for football, basketball, and baseball.

Crypto.com – Broad range of futures across sports

On Crypto.com, all futures prediction markets are grouped in a separate tab from the game results. At the time we checked, there were over 200 futures for all sports. The top ones included the NFL, MLB, NBA, and NCAA championship winner for the year. In addition, player awards, such as the MVP and Heisman Trophy Winner, are available.

We’ve focused on just US sports leagues, but Crypto.com’s futures go beyond those. You can expect event contracts for long-term outcomes in soccer, Formula 1, and tennis.

On each futures event card, the platform shows the total number of outcomes present on the bottom right and the liquidity on the left. For the NFL Championship winner, trading volume was over $9 million. As such, we can say that Crypto.com has sufficient liquidity for popular futures.

Sponsored by Crypto.com – Not investment advice. Trading prediction markets and crypto involves risk, including potential loss of your stake. Consider your risk tolerance before participating. Crypto.com connects U.S. users to CDNA (regulated by CFTC) for derivatives trading. CDNA membership required. Trading may not be suitable for all—you could lose your entire investment plus fees. Past performance doesn’t guarantee future results. This is not a solicitation or recommendation to trade.

Fanatics Markets – Dedicated player props selections

Fanatics Markets easily became one of the popular event trading sites because its parent brand is famous in the US. After signing up on the platform, we activated a welcome bonus of up to $150 in FanCash. The offer requires trading daily for 14 days, according to specific terms. As expected, sports events were eligible.

In the sports section, we saw three tabs at the top: Game Lines, Player Props, and Futures. The Player Props caught our attention because it lists player-specific outcomes in a horizontal tab. Meanwhile, the games are displayed in a vertical row.

For example, you may select Over/Under First Field Goal Scorer from the top tab. Then, you’ll see a list of potential players in different upcoming NBA games to pick from. We’ve not encountered such an arrangement on many alternative sites. The Player Props on Fanatics Markets are also offered in football, baseball, hockey, and soccer.

Robinhood – Unique sports specials predictions

Each major sport on Robinhood comes with a set of special event contracts. An example for the NFL is the Super Bowl halftime show headliner and other performers. Meanwhile, in the NBA, we spotted predictions about the next team a player will be signed to. You can see why these outcomes caught our interest.

In the MLB, the specials are more like props. For instance, we came across options to predict perfect games, 3+ home run games, 2+ grand slam games, and inside-the-park home runs. Each special event featured multiple options to select from, each with its individual Yes/No event contracts.

Besides specials, you can still find contracts on the game winner, spreads, totals, and futures on Robinhood. The site also supports live trading and combos.

Are sports prediction markets available in the US?

Sports prediction market brands are allowed to operate in the US under regulation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). That said, whether they’re available or not may depend on your location. The CFTC is a federal body, and while it oversees derivatives across the country, state regulations may differ.

So, depending on your location, you may or may not have access to the event contracts. If sports is unavailable, you can still check out a prediction market for crypto, culture, politics, or other categories if permitted.

Ranking factors for the best sports event trading sites

We didn’t compile our top five list by selecting platforms at random. On the contrary, we tested them based on these criteria:

Pros and cons of the best sports prediction sites

At our top-rated prediction market platforms for sports, these are the main upsides and downsides that apply:

Conclusion – Trade sports prediction markets in allowed states

The main drawback, as we pointed out, is that sports prediction markets are not as widely available as other categories. In some states, you may be allowed to trade event contracts on politics, culture, crypto, climate, and economics, but not sports.

Nevertheless, if permitted in your state, our list gives you reliable platforms to join. Polymarket offers contracts across 20+ sports, while Kalshi is quick for live trading. With Crypto.com and Fanatics, you can predict future and player prop outcomes, respectively. Last but not least, Robinhood introduces sports specials.

Choose your ideal sports prediction market platform from our top five. When done, click its banners on this page to visit the website and get started.

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