Kalshi and Polymarket Top Apple App Store Amid Surge in Election Betting

• Kalshi and Polymarket shot to the most downloaded free apps on the Apple App Store on Tuesday.
• Kalshi is the betting market open to US citizens, while Polymarket is used by international bettors.
• Kalshi and Polymarket show Trump favored to win the Electoral College, with Harris expected to win the popular vote.

Kalshi and Polymarket zoomed to the top of the Apple App Store on Tuesday amid a surge in election betting in the waning days of the 2024 US presidential campaign.

Kalshi, which is regulated by the CFTC and legal for US citizens, held the number one spot, while Polymarket, which is only available to international players, had the second spot on Apple’s list of the best free apps.

The two betting apps surpassed free downloads for popular smartphone apps such as ChatGPT, TikTok and Instagram.

Kalshi’s climb up the Apple App Store rankings represented a key goal achieved for the company’s CEO, Tarek Mansour.

“I think we’re going to go No. 1 for the entire App Store before Election Day, so the demand curve is really exponential,” Mansour told CNBC last month.

More than $4 billion in bets have been placed on various contracts related to the outcome of the US presidential election on Polymarket, compared with more than $500 million for Kalshi, according to data from both websites Tuesday afternoon.

Polymarket has had a significant lead over Kalshi in this election cycle since it was only early October when a federal judge cleared Kalshi to launch election-related betting contracts for US citizens.

At 3:11 PM ET, betting on Kalshi and Polymarket favors former President Donald Trump to win the Electoral College by 57% to 43% and 62% to 38%, respectively, and Vice President Kamala Harris to win the popular vote by 76% to 24% and 72 % to 28%.

Meanwhile, the polls are still much tighter. The most recent voting average from 538 has Harris leading 48% to 46.8% for Trump.