Kalshi and Polymarket combined volume surges 75% to $45 billion in June on World Cup betting
Kalshi and Polymarket's combined trading volume surged 75% to $45 billion in June, according to a July 2 report from The Block. Kalshi led with an 87.4% month-over-month jump to $31.5 billion, up from $16.81 billion. The spike was driven by heavy World Cup betting activity across both CFTC-regulated platforms. The figure covers Kalshi, Polymarket, and Polymarket US under the two operators, per ForkLog data citing $44.8 billion.
The $45 billion figure is not merely a monthly record — it is proof that prediction markets can capture sports-betting flows at volumes that rival traditional sportsbooks, which reshapes how Kalshi and Polymarket pitch themselves to institutional allocators. Kalshi's 87.4% jump to $31.5 billion, layered atop its $1 billion perpetual-futures debut week, signals the platform is successfully cross-selling derivatives to event-contract traders rather than running two siloed products. For Polymarket, the shared surge validates its liquidity-first strategy after recent low-liquidity criticism threatened to undercut its institutional narrative. The operative risk now is execution quality: with DRW, Wintermute, and IMC running dedicated desks, spreads must stay tight through the tournament knockout stages or the volume becomes a one-off spectacle rather than a structural shift. The platform that maintains orderly markets through the final will carry momentum into the NFL season and Olympics, where sportsbook partnerships and league-data deals are already being negotiated.
The $45 billion June figure extends a World Cup-driven volume streak for Kalshi and Polymarket that already produced a $2 billion tournament benchmark and $17 billion in the first two weeks, with DRW, Wintermute, and IMC building dedicated prediction market desks to support the institutional-scale flows now moving through both platforms.