Kalshi Adds 3 Million Users on $1.2 Billion World Cup Market
Updated
Updated · CNBC · Jul 19
Kalshi Adds 3 Million Users on $1.2 Billion World Cup Market
3 articles · Updated · CNBC · Jul 19
Summary
$1.2 billion has been traded on Kalshi's World Cup winner contracts, helping the prediction market add 3 million users during the 2026 tournament ahead of Sunday's Spain-Argentina final.
Kalshi fueled that surge with aggressive marketing tied to the event, including stadium co-branding, a ChatGPT odds partnership with OpenAI, and campaigns featuring Luka Modric, Jose Mourinho, J Balvin and Timothee Chalamet.
The World Cup boom also sharpens scrutiny of Kalshi's sports-event contracts, as states argue they amount to sports betting while Kalshi maintains the CFTC has sole authority over prediction markets.
Post-tournament retention is the next test: Kalshi said trading drops on days without matches, though CEO Tarek Mansour argues major news events beyond soccer can keep volume growing.