Kalshi’s Prediction Market Surges with Close to $250m in NCAA Contracts

Summary:

• Kalshi’s betting prediction market has almost reached the $250 million in contracts mark. .
• The result was generated during the NCAA Tournament’s first two rounds..
• EKG’s Earnings + More Substack estimates a total tournament handle at $2.63 billion.

Kalshi’s foray into the sports betting prediction markets has kicked off remarkably.

The regulated exchange and prediction market that enables users to trade on the outcome of events happening in the real world has partnered with Robinhood, reporting an impressive $249 million in contracts generated amid the first two rounds of the NCAA College Basketball Tournament.

Duke Is in the Lead

On Kalshi’s website, Duke currently leads as the favorite to win it all, with a Yes/No buy price of 30 cents/72 cents. Florida and Houston, both No. 1 seeds, are close behind, with Florida trading at 19/82 and Houston at 16/85.

For context, Kansas reported a sports betting handle of $252.9 million for March 2024, ranking 19th out of the 33 states with commercial sports betting.

Meanwhile, North Carolina, which launched its regulated sportsbooks that same month, saw $659.3 million in wagers in its first three weeks, helped in part by North Carolina State’s unexpected Final Four run as an 11-seed.

That figure, however, was bolstered by $202.6 million in promotional credits from mobile sportsbooks.

The $249 million in action on Kalshi represents roughly 8% of the $3.1 billion the American Gaming Association estimated would be legally wagered on the men’s and women’s NCAA Tournaments this year.

That projection didn’t seem to account for Kalshi’s nationwide customer base. Meanwhile, EKG’s Earnings + More Substack estimated the total handle for the tournament to be $2.63 billion.

Expected IC 360 Partnership

Kalshi has also announced it will be moving forward with its game integrity and responsible gaming policies.

The company will soon announce a partnership with IC 360, a firm that tracks suspicious betting activity for regulated sportsbooks, which will now extend its oversight to Kalshi’s sports event contracts.

Plus, the deal will also incorporate the ProhiBet system. The latter is aimed at stopping athletes, coaches, and team staff from wagering at traditional sportsbooks as well as within Kalshi’s prediction markets.

The company is also getting ready to roll out a “consumer protection hub”, where users can take responsible gaming measures such as self-exclusion, temporary account suspensions, and deposit limits.

Kalshi will frame its self-exclusion as “voluntary opt-outs” while deposit limits will be called “personalized funding caps”.