Polymarket is Serie A’s sole US prediction markets partner

Polymarket has entered into a multi-year regional partnership with Italy’s Serie A. It is to become the league’s sole platform for prediction markets in the US and will be receiving its official data. The channel for those data will be Genius Sports, which has just acquired the digital sports media network Legend.

Polymarket is visible from Italy but holds no license for online gaming there, so it is for Italian it is largely informational, as the company itself lays out. In all there are 33 blocked countries, which include most of Western Europe – Spain and Portugal being notable exceptions.

The parties describe the deal as a “significant step forward in Serie A’s international growth strategy.” Serie A’s Marketing and Commercial Director, Michele Ciccarese, sees the US as “a key growth market.” The league opened an office in the US (in New York City) four years ago.

For Polymarket founder and CEO Shayne Coplan the deal is coming “at a moment when American interest in the sport is at an all-time high.” More to the point for the sporting goods industry, Coplan says: “The next phase of sports engagement won’t be defined by more content, but by more participation.” In other words, the fans will be emitting a data stream of their own.

This is Polymarket’s second such deal in European football, after the one signed last month with LaLiga. Also last month the company signed a front-of-shirt sponsorship deal with the Serie A football club Lazio.

In January, moreover, Polymarket entered into a partnership with DAZN to have its services incorporated into the broadcaster’s broadcasts. DAZN, in turn, holds exclusive and non-exclusive international rights to Serie A broadcasts for the UK, Ireland and the US but only for the current season (BroadbandTVNews).