Polymarket annualized revenue passes $1 billion on World Cup trading surge
World Cup betting is driving record activity at prediction market platforms. Polymarket's soccer-category trading volume exceeded $2 billion in the 10 days before the tournament and surged 300% from the prior period, while a single Norway-Senegal group stage match drew more than $32 million in volume. Kalshi's aggregated open interest reached a record $1.16 billion last week, the first time the platform crossed the billion-dollar mark. Polymarket told CNBC its annualized revenue has surpassed $1 billion on the trading surge. A trader placed $1.1 million on Croatia to beat Ghana on Polymarket Sports on June 28, while another match saw Senegal priced at roughly 75.5% win probability before its goal against Iraq.
Polymarket's $1 billion annualized revenue figure proves World Cup event contracts are generating exchange-scale economics, not niche crypto volumes. That puts pressure on Kalshi's record OI to convert to comparable revenue per dollar traded, or cede the next marquee event to Polymarket's liquidity-first playbook.
Today's revenue milestone and million-dollar wagers join Kalshi and Polymarket's parallel World Cup trading strategies — breadth versus depth — as the two CFTC-registered venues compete for share among institutional market makers building dedicated desks for both platforms.