Prediction market Kalshi has vastly expanded its esports presence with the addition of thousands of new markets, new features, and on-site additions.
Originally announced in March, and live and promoted as of April 8, Kalshi will now offer live scores, integrated livestreams, live markets, and other opportunities to trade on esports outcomes and matches.
With this latest expansion, Kalshi’s esports markets now number in the hundreds, focusing primarily on League of Legends, CS2 and VALORANT. Smaller numbers of markets also exist for Dota 2, Rainbow Six Siege, and Overwatch.
These markets typically include simple match outcome predictions, map winner predictions, and total maps estimates.
But beyond just markets for predictors, Kalshi’s new esports push has integrated live scores, livestreams, and venturing into prop markets.
Kalshi’s expanded esports section. Image credit: Kalshi
The volumes on these predictions is also significant, with top League of Legends and CS2 match markets reaching $100,000-$250,000 on regular season and tournament games.
Kalshi also has the benefit of being the most tightly regulated prediction market. Regulated directly by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Kalshi has managed to stay ahead of many of its competitors who are still anxious about regulation and legislation.
Kalshi is one of the leading prediction markets in the world, alongside the likes of Polymarket and Predictlt. Other markets have made the move into the esports space, such as FORKAST, and Polymarket.
But while the former has focused on a more sports-betting adjacent function, and the latter more broad prop-predictions on elements such as production blunders, Kalshi seems dedicated to a more embedded approach.
Just recently, prediction markets faced hash criticism as they integrated into the BLAST Open Rotterdam.
With prediction markets still a relatively new addition to the esports space, it remains to be seen how Kalshi, and competitors, will affect the scene overall, and whether fans will accept their inclusion.
Stick with Jaxon.gg for more prediction market coverage.
Featured Image Credit: Kalshi
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