Kalshi Hit $27 Billion in World Cup 2026 Volume, Roughly Double Its Forecast

Kalshi said it handled $27 billion in trading volume during the 2026 World Cup, with about 3 million users over the tournament period. For PSPs and high-risk operators, the number matters less as a sports trivia stat than as a sign that prediction markets can scale fast even while regulators are actively trying to shut parts of the business down.

1. The company had projected $13 billion in volume and about 1.5 million users for the tournament. According to a source familiar with the matter, speaking to Reuters on Thursday (24/7), Kalshi landed at roughly double both figures: $27 billion in volume and around 3 million users.
2. The 2026 World Cup was played in an expanded 48-team format and became the most profitable FIFA World Cup on record. The tournament opened at Estadio Azteca in Mexico, and Spain won the title in New Jersey by beating Argentina for its second trophy.
3. Kalshi also announced in early July that it will begin accepting bets on clinical trial outcomes and FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) regulatory reviews. The company said this would make drug-development probabilities public for the first time, and it plans to move into a broader set of event contracts.
4. Kalshi and Polymarket let users bet on sports results, elections, and other events, a category that has become more visible since the 2024 U.S. presidential election. The thing is, the commercial upside is obvious; the legal framework is still being argued case by case.
5. The company is facing lawsuits in several U.S. states, which accuse it of violating gambling laws by offering sports-related event contracts. Massachusetts was the first state to seek an injunction, and in the week of 21 July, Washington obtained a court order blocking Kalshi’s operations after a judge said the company’s event contracts likely violated state gambling law. Kalshi also reported suspicious activity involving Gabriel Perez, a longtime teleprompter operator for U.S. President Donald Trump, to the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission); federal regulators are investigating him on insider-trading suspicions.

For high-risk PSPs, Kalshi’s scale is the part to watch. A product that can clear $27 billion in volume during one sports tournament, while also attracting regulatory attacks in multiple states and scrutiny around insider trading, is exactly the sort of flow profile that payment teams need to map before deciding whether to support prediction markets, where, and under what controls.