ESPN Warns Talent About Insider Betting on Prediction Markets

ESPN has introduced prediction markets to its existing policies on prohibiting on-air personnel from participating in insider betting, as reported by Front Office Sports. Last week, the network's talent department shared a memo with on-air employees, detailing social media usage, political commentary, and sports betting guidelines.

The memo was sent just before the midterm elections, amid high political tensions. While the memo retained much of the previous year's content, it added a specific prohibition against betting on sports news when having non-public information due to their employment at ESPN, including on prediction markets such as Polymarket. Although Polymarket is cited in the memo, Kalshi is not.

The memo provided examples of such bets, including awards votes, player personnel decisions, and sports media deals, all of which might be present on prediction markets. An ESPN spokesperson was unavailable for comment. The updated policy regarding prediction markets is a modification from a policy initially distributed to ESPN talents in 2023, prior to launching ESPNBet, as previously reported by The Action Network.

ESPN’s policy previously prohibited reporters from using, disclosing, or providing access to non-public information for betting purposes, including influencing others to place bets or sharing such information with sportsbook operators. Additionally, talents were not allowed to bet on games they covered, and insider reporters were entirely barred from gambling on the sports they covered.