Kalshi Plans for Bigger Future Following Election Triumph

The recent US Presidential Election, which resulted in a resounding win for the former president, Donald Trump, attracted bets in billions across different platforms in the country.

Kalshi Plans to Exponentially Grow Its Offering

Trading contracts platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket indicated a record surge in demand and interest in betting on the election. Surprisingly, the betting companies predicted Trump’s win long ahead of the election outcome and proved to be more accurate than polls.

Kalshi, a company that offers trading on event contracts, including such involving politics and the recent elections, was permitted to offer its services to Americans for only a few weeks ahead of the election. In October, the Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the platform, allowing it to relaunch election betting. This was a landmark win for Kalshi as tipped the scales in its favor in the legal hurdle with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Now, in an interview for The Guardian, the platform’s CEO, Tarek Mansour, spoke about the “astronomical” results of the company in light of the recent Presidential Election. He revealed that overall, Kalshi recorded more than $1 billion in trades for a single month.

However, in Mansour’s words, the platform is only “getting started,” as it seeks to further propel its offering. Ultimately, Kalshi seeks to deliver hundreds of exciting trading markets, not only on political events but on the outcome of other real-life events, including whether or not Billie Eilish will win a Grammy for an album of the year and if Monkey Pox will be recognized as a pandemic until the end of the year.

Trading Isn’t the Same as Speculating

Per Kalshi’s CEO, the platform is expanding its offering with the addition of nearly 100 new markets every day. Mansour hinted at the possibility for the platform to offer its customers contracts based on multiple events, an activity that is recognized in sports betting like parlay betting.

Parlay bets represent the combination of wagers, for example, a team progressing in a competition against two, three or more rivals. However, while some may see Kalshi as a betting platform, it officially offers buying and selling of event contracts.

In practice, this activity may look like betting or gambling, but Mansour disagrees. He explained: “You’re trading, or you’re speculating, on something that has no societal value. If you and I throw a dice, it’s artificial risk that we’re creating.” The CEO gave an example, explaining that in the case of trading on Brexit, there’s no such “artificial risk,” as the risk exists anyway.

Another notable difference when it comes to event trading on platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket is that customers are trading against each other. Despite the popularity of Kalshi, which skyrocketed recently, the platform remains firm when it comes to restricting some trading contracts. Such involve criminal acts of violence like assassinations or terrorism, among other unlawful actions that are strictly banned from trading on the platform.