While Americans were glued to their screens watching touchdowns, halftime spectacles, and overpriced nachos during Super Bowl Sunday, a quieter frenzy unfolded on Kalshi’s prediction platform: more than $1 billion changed hands in trades, shattering the company’s daily record.
Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour proudly declared on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that the platform had become the unofficial MVP of the Big Game—without dropping a single dime on a commercial. The trading volume exploded 2,700% from the previous year, proving that when it comes to gambling on events, some folks prefer contracts over couch cushions stuffed with cash.
The real star of the show wasn’t on the field or the stage. Bets on which song Bad Bunny would open his halftime performance with racked up over $100 million in volume, while wagers on his surprise guests topped $45 million.
Forget guessing the final score—apparently, the burning question was whether “Tití Me Preguntó” would drop before the confetti or after. In a world where people once bet on coin flips, now they’re wagering small fortunes on playlist order.
Of course, even record-breaking success comes with minor plot complications. High traffic caused deposit delays for some eager traders, prompting co-founder Luana Lopes Lara to post a reassuring note mid-game: your money is safe, it’s just taking the scenic route. Nothing says “trust us with your cash” like a polite apology during the third quarter.
Mansour brushed off concerns about insider trading with the calm confidence of a man who knows the regulators are watching. Kalshi, he pointed out, operates under the same Commodity Futures Trading Commission rules as the big boys on Wall Street—Nasdaq, NYSE, the works.
The company has launched 200 investigations over the past year, frozen suspicious accounts, and even handed a few cases to law enforcement. Insider trading? Sure, it’s a risk—much like betting your life savings that the halftime show won’t feature a wardrobe malfunction.
In the end, while the game itself delivered thrills, Kalshi quietly turned America’s favorite Sunday into the hottest financial event of the year. Who needs multimillion-dollar ads when your product has people treating pop songs like penny stocks?
Leave a Reply