George Santos Bet on Whether He'd Show Up to the State of the Union—Kalshi Just Banned Him for Life

Kalshi's trading volume hit a record high of $9.4 billion in June, with the World Cup driving a surge in prediction market trading.

According to Mars Finance, on July 5th, driven by the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the trading volume of the US prediction market platform Kalshi rose to approximately $9.4 billion in June, an increase of nearly 77% from approximately $5.3 billion in May, setting a new record. During the same period, Polymarket International's trading volume increased from approximately $3.5 billion to approximately $4.3 billion. Data shows that the World Cup has become the main catalyst for the growth in prediction market trading. As this World Cup expands to 48 teams for the first time, the number of matches and knockout stage scenarios has increased, driving active trading in single-match contracts. For example, the round of 16 match between Canada and Morocco saw trading volumes exceeding $48 million on Kalshi and $26.8 million on Polymarket. However, the rapid increase in trading volume has also further fueled regulatory controversy. Several US states continue to advocate that sports event contracts should be subject to betting regulations, rather than the derivatives market regulated by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Meanwhile, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) recently warned that some event-based contracts may fall under the existing regulatory scope of binary options. Analysts believe that the World Cup demonstrated the ability of prediction markets to attract liquidity during major events, but whether sports prediction contracts should be regulated as financial derivatives or betting remains a core regulatory issue for the industry.