ESPN has warned its on-air personalities against using inside information to profit from prediction markets like Polymarket.
The network reportedly recently updated its employee guidelines to specifically include prediction markets, which have become increasingly popular despite ongoing legal battles over whether they constitute gambling.
According to Front Office Sports, ESPN’s talent department distributed the updated guidelines in a memo to on-air employees at the end of October.
The memo also addressed social media activity and political commentary ahead of the midterm elections. Most of the rules weren’t new. The addition of prediction markets, however, was.
ESPN Warns Employees About Betting On Information The Public Doesn’t Know
The updated guidelines prohibit ESPN personalities from using nonpublic information obtained through their jobs to place bets, including wagers made through prediction markets. The memo specifically mentions Polymarket, but not its competitor Kalshi.
Examples of prohibited betting include using inside information about awards voting, player personnel decisions, and sports media deals.
ESPN already had rules prohibiting employees from using inside information to gamble in place prior to the memo. The policy also bars employees from using that information to affect other people’s bets.
In 2023, ahead of the launch of the now-defunct ESPN Bet, the network told employees: “Do not use, disclose, or provide access to non-public information that you have been exposed to as part of your job.”
Reporters and insiders were barred from betting on the sports they covered regularly, and other employees were prohibited from betting on games they were assigned to. Those restrictions are still in place.
Coincidentally, ESPN has recently been under fire for promoting sports gambling.
Craig Carton, who almost had his life completely ruined when he was convicted of fraud in 2019 due to a severe gambling addiction, recently called out the network for what he believes is gambling marketing directed at children.
A few days before that, former ESPN producer Nicole Noren said she resigned after 24 years with the network due to the company’s embrace of sports betting and concerns about the consequences of gambling addiction.
Prediction Markets Continue To Face Questions About Whether They’re Gambling
The new guidelines are interesting because companies like Polymarket and Kalshi have repeatedly argued that their services aren’t traditional gambling. As Awful Announcing notes, by including prediction markets in its gambling policy, the network is signaling it isn’t especially interested in making that distinction.
ESPN isn’t the only one concerned about these platforms, either.
In September, New York sued Polymarket, accusing the company of operating an illegal, unlicensed gambling business. That lawsuit came two months after the state filed a $36 billion lawsuit against Kalshi over similar allegations.
Washington Attorney General Nick Brown also sued Kalshi in March 2026. Utah Attorney General Derek Brown filed both civil and criminal charges against Kalshi, and Wisconsin Attorney General Joshua Kaul filed a lawsuit in April 2026 seeking an injunction against Kalshi
“No matter what they call themselves, prediction markets like Kalshi are gambling platforms, plain and simple,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said at the time.
Both companies have disputed New York’s accusations.