Kalshi reports that trading activity tied to the Super Bowl topped $1 billion in volume, setting a new single-day record for the prediction market platform, according to CEO Tarek Mansour.
The company said trading volume on Super Bowl Sunday jumped by an extraordinary 2,700% compared with the same period last year. Kalshi allows users to trade event-based contracts covering outcomes in politics, entertainment, financial markets, and sports, and the Super Bowl proved to be a massive driver of interest.
“It was an incredible weekend,” Mansour said in an interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box on Tuesday. He noted that Kalshi became one of the most talked-about brands connected to the Super Bowl this year—despite not purchasing a Super Bowl commercial. According to Mansour, the surge was driven purely by user engagement with the platform’s products.
Some of the most active contracts centered on the halftime show. Trading tied to Bad Bunny’s opening song reportedly crossed $100 million, while contracts predicting which artists would join him on stage generated more than $45 million in volume.
However, the surge in activity also brought technical challenges. Co-founder Luana Lopes Lara shared on social media during the game that some users experienced delayed deposits due to unusually heavy traffic. She reassured customers that their funds were secure and would be processed, though with longer-than-usual wait times.
At the same time, Kalshi and other prediction markets have faced growing scrutiny, particularly around concerns of insider trading. In response, the company announced expanded surveillance and enforcement measures ahead of the Super Bowl to better detect and remove accounts suspected of improper activity.
Mansour emphasized that these risks are not unique to prediction markets. He pointed out that insider trading is also a long-standing issue in traditional stock markets.
“As a regulated financial market overseen by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, we operate under rules similar to Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange,” Mansour said, adding that Kalshi applies comparable enforcement standards.
Over the past year, he said the company has conducted around 200 investigations, frozen related accounts, and referred some cases to law enforcement, underscoring its efforts to strengthen trust and compliance as the platform continues to grow.
