The World Cup has been a sports betting bonanza for Kalshi.Since the soccer tournament started, Kalshi says it has set new trading records, taking in more than $25 billion in sports wagers.Compare that to the $4 billion analysts are expecting online sportsbooks like DraftKings and FanDuel to log in bets across all 104 matches.The disparity is fueling skepticism from sportsbook advocates over Kalshi's position that it is not a sports gambling app.To the sports betting industry, Kalshi and other prediction market operators have found a legal backdoor to grow sports betting without paying state gaming taxes.Additionally, Kalshi's app has effectively lowered the sports betting age from 21 to 18 and entered states where betting on sports is illegal, like California and Texas, thanks to the Trump administration's endorsement of Kalshi's argument that it is something other than a sports gambling site.Kalshi says, technically, it is a federally regulated financial product, not a sports betting site.
On Kalshi, bettors wager against each other, rather than betting against "the house," like with sportsbooks.The company does not make money when bettors lose.
Instead, it tacks a fee onto every transaction.Kalshi also points to all the other things it allows people to bet on, like elections, the president's word choice and the week's top-streaming movie on Netflix.Kalshi spokeswoman Elisabeth Diana adds that, unlike sportsbooks, Kalshi does not restrict bets or ban people who are consistently big winners."Just like the stock market, you can exit your position at any time.
It's a fairer, less predatory platform," Diana said.Whether Kalshi is an unlicensed sportsbook or a totally new type of finance app may seem like a pedantic distinction, but the question is at the center of more than 20 pending federal lawsuits, with billions of dollars of tax revenue and the future of the fast-growing prediction market industry at stake."From a bettor's standpoint, Kalshi and sportsbooks ar...