Overview
- With Super Bowl viewership peaking, the NFL barred ads from Kalshi, Polymarket and PredictIt over game‑integrity and legal‑status concerns.
- Market activity has surged, with industry volume reportedly topping $44 billion in 2025, Kalshi nearing $10 billion in January trading and more than $161 million already wagered on Super Bowl markets.
- The CFTC withdrew a proposed ban on election event contracts and signaled a new rulemaking, while states such as Massachusetts and New York advanced actions treating some offerings as unlicensed sports betting.
- Insider‑trading fears escalated after a lucrative Polymarket trade tied to Venezuela’s Maduro, prompting Rep. Ritchie Torres’s bill targeting officials’ use of nonpublic information and a senators’ letter urging tougher enforcement.
- Platforms are courting Washington and tightening surveillance—Kalshi says it opened over 200 investigations last year—even as professional gamblers and trading firms enter the space, raising fairness and liquidity concerns flagged by analysts.