Kalshi Brings in $4.5 Million on Canadian Election

• Trading exchange Kalshi accepts over $4 million of contracts on Canada’s Election 
• Other popular events allow customers to predict the next Pope
• Kalshi in legal battle with multiple states over sports event contracts

The Canadian Election was held earlier this week and many people put their predictions to the test by using trading exchange platform Kalshi, which saw approximately $4.5 million in handle on the event. 

While the end result was much closer than Kalshi’s 82% chance of a Liberal victory on Monday, their markets still proved to be an accurate representation of the winning party.

Mark Carney’s Liberals won a minority government by earning 169 of 343 seats in Parliament. That equates to 43.7% of the popular vote. 

Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives won 144 seats (41.3%).

Kalshi Predicts Pietro Parolin as Next Pope

Making predictions on international elections is one of many events where Kalshi offers event contracts. They’ve also accepted over $1 million in contracts already on who will be the next Pope. Currently, Pietro Parolin is given a 25% chance as the frontrunner. The “Next Pope Odds” at legal offshore betting markets, had Luis Antonio Tagle the early even-money favorite last week.

Kalshi Roundtable Cancelled and More News

This month was scheduled to see a roundtable hosted by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to provide clarity on the regulations and policies surrounding sports event contracts. However, the roundtable was cancelled last week with no updated schedule or reasoning. Earlier in the month, it was mentioned that the event could be restructured into a forum or hearing. 

Other Kalshi news saw the exchange earn a win for a preliminary injunction against a cease-and-desist order from New Jersey. This week a New Jersey federal judge ruled in Kalshi’s favor to allow the exchange to continue to offer their services while the ongoing lawsuit continues. A similar ruling was issued in Nevada last week. 

New Jersey and Nevada are two of three states where Kalshi has taken legal action against gaming regulators to continue to offer sports events contracts. Maryland is the other. However, a total of nine states have recently opposed Kalshi offering sports events contracts in their states.

With the growing popularity of sports predictions markets offered by Kalshi, Robinhood, Crypto.com and others, Sporttrade is also looking to join the market. On Wednesday, the US-based company wrote to the CFTC for permission to offer contracts on events across the United States.