The Catfather

About The Catfather

A Chicago suburb city mayor says he will return $2,000 in campaign contributions connected to a local restaurateur who has been indicted in a federal gambling case in Indiana.

Mayor Gary Grasso confirmed the donations from Filippo “Gigi” Rovito after local outlet Patch contacted him to ask about contributions from two Burr Ridge businesses owned by Rovito, Capri Ristorante and the Are We Live nightclub. 

The mayor said he was not aware of the contributions before the publication actually got in touch with him.

What is The Catfather?

That growth reflects the expanding number and variety of sports contracts. ITF tennis is particularly dependent on official data because its more than 60,000 annual matches are not generally televised. Unofficially monitoring a tour moving between locations such as Bogotá and Bali would be difficult, Monk noted.

Streaming is also becoming part of the product. Monk said prediction market interfaces had moved beyond their earlier trading-led presentation to incorporate streams, player propositions and combinations resembling sportsbook bet builders.

“It was still very much a trading kind of UX,” he said of Kalshi at the beginning of the year. “The actual product offering has come a long way.”

What is The Catfather?

The news comes as prediction market operators continue to form alliances with major media outlets. These deals allow news outlets to embed event contract data into their reporting and offer prediction platforms more visibility to investors and news audiences. 

Polymarket has developed its media presence elsewhere. In January, it signed a deal with Dow Jones to provide its prediction market data to several of the publisher’s consumer platforms. The deal covers publications including The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, MarketWatch and Investor’s Business Daily.

Prediction markets have become more and more intertwined with sports and entertainment businesses. Polymarket has agreements with Major League Baseball and Sportsradar. Sportsradar provides data and services for more than 20 sports leagues and competitions.