With just a day until the 2024 Presidential election, all the focus has been on election betting sites that allow you to wager on the outcome.
The two most popular election betting apps are Polymarket and Kalshi, but they are very different products. Polymarket is an unregulated prediction market which requires users to transact with crypto. Kalshi is a legal and regulated betting exchange which allows users to wager on real-world events, including the 2024 Presidential election, using cash.
You can sign up to bet on the election with Kalshi right here.
In short, election betting markets look like traditional wagering sites or apps, but they allow you to bet on the outcome of real-world events, like Presidential elections.
Unlike regular betting sites - like sportsbooks and online casinos - where users bet against the house, which always has an advantage, prediction betting markets are peer-to-peer exchanges.
To date, these have largely been dominated by unregulated offshore companies using cryptocurrency. These sites can be very complicated to sign up for and are quite literally illegal in the US.
Polymarket is the most popular, and most cited in the media, but it is banned in the US since it is an unregulated crypto gambling site.
But there are legal, regulated options.
There are three regulated platforms that accept bets on the US Presidential election:
Kalshi won a court appeal this month to be regulated under the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission), which allows it to offer election betting to US residents.
In addition, users can bet on other real-world outcomes, including other political races, like the PA Senate race.
It is, by far, the most consumer-friendly of the bunch (you can sign up here), and its app has skyrocketed in the iOS App Store in recent days as a result.
Kalshi is now #1 finance app on the App Store. pic.twitter.com/AgEk2Cc5on
The best part about Kalshi may be that users can can get into and out of there positions whenever they want.... so long as there is enough liquidity, which their CEO says usually isn't a problem.
You can read OCNJ Daily's full Kalshi review here.
You can sign up to bet on the election with Kalshi right here.
Interactive Brokers, the trading platform, also offers election futures contracts-- but its interface and user experience is subpar compared to Kalshi's. Interactive Brokers' site has a complicated signup process and is not generally consumer-friendly.
Robinhood also recently announced that it would offer election betting contracts. However, unlike Kalshi, they offer only one-way markets, meaning users can't get out of their positions until the market settles... in January. And you can only bet on the Presidential election-- no other events.
Given the lack of regulated prediction betting sites, and since Polymarket is banned in the US, we found Kalshi to be the clear winner when it comes to betting on the Presidential election.
You can sign up for Kalshi here.
