Warning: Undefined array key "post_type_share_twitter_account" in /var/www/vhosts/casinonewsblogger.com/public_html/wp-content/themes/cryptocurrency/vslmd/share/share.php on line 24
Kalshi has gained 3 million new users during the 2026 FIFA World Cup as prediction market trading volume surged alongside the tournament.
CNBC reported that more than $1.2 billion has been traded on Kalshi’s contracts predicting the World Cup winner, a record for a single market on the platform. The market closed Sunday, following Spain’s victory against Argentina in the final.
“I don’t think there’s any game like football,” Vijay Viswanathan, Associate Dean of Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University, told CNBC. “It’s played in about every country in the world … so in just terms of the total addressable market, there’s really nothing that comes close to the FIFA World Cup.”
Brand partnerships span sports and entertainment
Kalshi partnered with ADI Predictstreet, the official prediction market sponsor of the World Cup, for co-branded advertising inside stadiums. The company also partnered with OpenAI to display its contract odds when users search for World Cup matches on ChatGPT.
Additional campaigns featured Croatian soccer player Luka Modric, longtime Real Madrid coach José Mourinho, and a partnership with the Argentina national team that resulted in a mention from Lionel Messi on Instagram.
“Our volumes are where the news is at,” said Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour, who leads the company’s marketing strategy. “It’s a lot of the approach for the World Cup. … The most important thing is to enable creativity based on what’s happening.“
Mansour cited turnaround speed as a factor in the strategy. An advertisement featuring former professional soccer players in a scrimmage, released Friday, was produced within 24 hours, he said.
Kalshi extended its advertising beyond soccer figures, releasing a campaign with actor Timothée Chalamet in June, coinciding with his appearances at New York Knicks games during the NBA Finals, along with a spot featuring Colombian singer J Balvin this month.
“This is also a way for them to say, ‘oh, but we’re also relevant to all these other people who might not be that interested in sports, too,'” said Elizabeth Johnson, Executive Director of the Wharton Neuroscience Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania. “They’re seizing this moment to remind people about the ubiquity of what these prediction markets are.”
Regulatory dispute continues over sports contracts
Sports event contracts remain a point of contention between federal and state regulators. States contend the contracts function as sports betting, an activity under state jurisdiction.
Kalshi holds that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which oversees swaps and derivatives, has sole authority over prediction markets. Mansour dismissed the opposition, attributing it to gambling companies concerned about losing their dominant position in the market.
Kalshi now faces the task of converting new sign-ups into recurring users. Trading volume on days without World Cup matches has trailed volume recorded during game days.
Mansour said the pattern follows a cycle seen after past major events, in which volume rises, dips temporarily, then climbs again around subsequent news cycles.
“You have to believe there’s not going to be any news after Sunday,” he said. “Maybe, … but the more probable thing is that there’s going to be like a bunch of things going on in the world, and Kalshi’s going to be there to service it.”