The move will position Polymarket to challenge established sports gambling companies. The company has already established a partnership with the NHL and announced on Thursday a multi-year partnership with TKO Group Holdings Inc. that has made it the official prediction market partner of the UFC and Zuffa Boxing.
“By partnering with Shayne and his team at Polymarket, we’re unlocking a new dimension of fan engagement,” Ari Emanuel, CEO and executive chair of TKO, said in a statement. “Integrating Polymarket with the UFC and Zuffa Boxing live experience will help fans interact with these events in real time, transforming passive viewership into active participation.”
In conventional betting, users trade against the house, which sets odds, limits liquidity, and bans profitable players. Coplan argued the model is structurally flawed compared with Polymarket’s model, which allows users to set prices and back either side of an outcome – a design it says is more like an exchange than a casino.
“I don’t think anyone would argue that the sports book model is the optimal model,” Coplan said. “There’s a monopoly on pricing. You trade against the house every time and they can set whatever prices they want and to make matters worse, if you make any money, they can ban you.’