Wall Street Journal Parent Company Inks Contract With Polymarket
News Corp’s subsidiary, Dow Jones, announced recently that it had reached an exclusive agreement with one of the world’s leading prediction market platforms, Polymarket, a platform drawing interest from sports betting operators, to provide real-time prediction market data to its publications, which include MarketWatch, Barron’s, and The Wall Street Journal.
Polymarket Data Featured in Business Publications
Polymarket, along with the entire prediction market industry, received a boost of credibility by signing a deal with Dow Jones to appear on its trusted business publications, with the most famous being The Wall Street Journal.
Polymarket allows customers to wager on everything from real estate prices to elections, and of course, sporting events. The latter has caused the most controversy, as it mirrors sports betting, which is not allowed in all 50 states, and those that have legalized it are chagrined that it is cutting into sportsbooks’ revenues that pay taxes on profits to the state.
As part of the agreement, Dow Jones will introduce consumer-facing tools, such as a customized earnings calendar with market-implied expectations for corporate performance, using prediction market data.
Financial Terms Remain Undisclosed
Financial details of the deal have not been disclosed at this time, but the exposure Polymarket will receive as part of the pact will only enhance its presence in the world of cryptocurrency and prediction markets, where users can buy contracts on sporting events much like making a bet with a retail or mobile sportsbook.
The primary difference is that prediction contracts are volatile, and their value fluctuates as the sporting event is in process, unlike typical sports betting wagers whose odds or point spreads are locked in at the time the bet is placed and do not ebb and flow.
After the agreement was reached last Wednesday, Almar Latour, CEO of Dow Jones, stated, “We’re making prediction markets data available to our users because it’s a rapidly growing source of real-time insight into collective beliefs about future events.”
Prediction Market Controversy
Last year, the prediction markets sparked significant controversy in the mobile sports betting industry when they started offering sports event contracts just before Super Bowl 59 in February 2025.
That was just the beginning of what would become a blizzard of cease-and-desist letters from state gaming agencies to the prediction markets, arguing they were violating their rules by not obtaining a license in those states nor paying state taxes.
Despite the flurry of legal battles that ensued, with the prediction markets like Polymarket, Kalshi, and Crypto.com contending they were operating under the federal authority of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), a definitive ruling has not been issued, which has allowed those firms to continue offering sports event contracts in all 50 states, as federal law allows.
The prediction markets, historically known to offer commodities trading on goods like gold, silver, and even pork bellies, have won the early legal battles in federal court, although a recent ruling in Nevada left the door ajar for state regulators to ultimately prevail.
Upcoming Hearing and Continued Expansion
That hearing is expected to begin in February of this year, but until now, the prediction markets continue to sign deals with major outlets and even one professional sports league, the NHL, as well as one of its franchises, the Chicago Blackhawks.
The CFTC’s incoming chairman, Michael Selig, publicly stated during his confirmation hearings that he would let the courts decide, which means no action is expected from the federal regulator to intervene. Many believe the contentious legal battles will persist until it reaches the US Supreme Court within the next few years, assuming the nation’s highest legal body agrees to hear the case.
