Kalshi Review & Promo Code 2025 - Get a $10 Bonus

Kalshi is an online trading platform. It works like a betting exchange, with players betting against each other (rather than the house) on various topics, including sports. Since it’s not a regular sportsbook, Kalshi is legally available in all 50 states.  

My Kalshi review explores exactly how Kalshi works, how it compares to a more traditional sports betting experience, how to claim your Kalshi bonus and more. 

What Is Kalshi? 

Kalshi is an American financial exchange market that allows players to trade “event contracts” for categories such as politics, weather, and sports. Trading event contracts is very similar to placing bets, only you are betting against other Kalshi users rather than the house.

Kalshi is regulated at a federal level by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), allowing it to operate legally nationwide. 

How Does Kalshi Differ From Other Sports Betting Platforms? 

Kalshi lets you bet on many of the same sports and markets as traditional sports betting sites, but the platform differs in some important ways. 

Instead of bets, Kalshi uses what they call “event contracts”, which allow you to make predictions about specific events, like the winner of the Super Bowl or the score in an upcoming NBA game.

Event contacts work by responding to “yes” or “no” questions - like Will the Kansas City Chiefs Win the Super Bowl?

That means you won’t find any traditional wagers like moneylines, spreads, or totals on Kalshi, and overall you have fewer sports betting options than traditional sportsbooks. Instead, event contracts are pretty similar to futures bets or prop bets, simplifying the betting process into yes/no questions. 

Kalshi also differs from other sports betting platforms because, with an event contract, you aren’t betting against the house. Instead, Kalshi operates as an exchange, so you are betting against another player who thinks the opposite from you.

Unlike a sportsbook, your payout isn’t determined using odds set by the book. Rather it depends on the activity of other players on the exchange. When you enter an event contract, you are effectively entering into an agreement with another Kalshi user and making a prediction contrary to them. 

Just like on a sportsbook, you can risk as little or as much as you want on either side of the event contact. Your payout is demonstrated in terms of a hypothetical $100 bet, but you can type in different stakes (like on a bet slip) to see how much you would win. 

Finally, Kalshi differs from other sports betting platforms because they are federally regulated. At the end of the day, they’re a financial exchange market that just happens to allow sports wagers.

Kalshi Welcome Offer

Kalshi offers a $10 sign-up bonus when you create a new account and spend $100 on event contracts. You can enjoy this offer with no promo code necessary. I opted into this bonus myself, and I’m showing you how to follow in my footsteps. 

How to Claim the Kalshi Promo 

It took me just five minutes to sign up with Kalshi, confirm my information, and deposit funds. 

Here’s what I did to get started: 

1. I visited Kalshi’s website and clicked “Sign Up” at the top-right corner. 

2. It’s possible to sign up with Google, Apple ID, or your email. I clicked “Continue with Email,” typed my email, created a new password, and clicked “Continue” to proceed. 

3. I opened my inbox, looked for a new email from Kalshi, and entered my one-time code on their website. 

4. I clicked “Continue,” entered my birthday, typed my cell phone number, and confirmed my SMS verification code. 

5. I entered my first name, last name, residential address, and nine-digit Social Security Number before clicking “Submit” to finalize my account. 

6. I clicked “Add Funds,” chose my payment method, and followed their instructions to fund my account with $100 upfront. Seconds after refreshing the site, I saw $100 in my balance. 

While it’s easy for beginners to get started with Kalshi, their bonus doesn’t come until later on. I had to spend $100 on trades before claiming my $10 bonus. 

Kalshi Promo Terms & Conditions

Kalshi requires that all users be 18+ years of age and a U.S. citizen before signing up with their platform. You must deposit cash at least once and spend $100 on event contracts before getting $10 in bonus money. 

Most traditional sportsbooks give you some kind of bonus up front, like bonus bets or a deposit bonus.

Kalshi is different, with a smaller bonus available only after you’ve already spent $100 on the site and less of an emphasis on sports betting bonuses in general. 

Kalshi Referral Code 

There is no Kalshi promo code required to claim the welcome bonus. 

More Promos at Kalshi 

Bonuses and promos aren’t really a thing at Kalshi, at least in the same way as traditional sportsbooks. However, in addition to the welcome bonus, you can claim a referral bonus when you get friends to sign up and play on Kalshi. 

Kashi Refer a Friend Bonus

When your friend makes a new account with your referral code and buys at least 100 event contracts, you’ll both get a $10 bonus. You must make your first trade before unlocking the ability to refer your friends

Each event contract can be priced between $0.01 and $0.99 based on the probability of the event taking place, although I rarely saw them priced that low. As long as your friend buys at least 100 contracts, the value of each one doesn’t matter - you’ll both qualify for a free reward. 

For that reason, it’s easy to select contracts that make financial sense in the context of this reward. 

To get started, I opened the main menu and clicked “Invite A Friend.” 

I clicked “Share Link,” sent it to a coworker, and had them sign up on my behalf. They bought 100 event contracts for an average of $0.09 each, spending $9 in total, and we received our $10 reward. 

I like this bonus, and it’s one of the only actionable promos they have on deck. 

Beyond Kalshi’s welcome or referral bonus, there aren’t many ways to get free cash on the site. 

Kalshi User Experience 

Kalshi simplifies futures trading for sports fans.

They present a clean, beginner-friendly UI that’s completely free from advertisements and pop-ups. Signing up, making my initial cash deposit, and buying my first event contract felt entirely effortless, thanks to guided instructions. 

The Kalshi sports betting mobile app does a great job of downsizing the entire experience on your cell phone. I enjoyed immediate loading speeds, watched real-time statistics, and kept an eye on trending topics all on the smaller screen. 

As a financial exchange site, Kalshi looks and feels different from a regular sportsbook. That said, I found actually entering event contracts to be pretty similar to placing bets. 

In my opinion, the simplified format is well suited to total beginners who want an easy way to make sports bets and predictions. However, if you’re used to all the functionality of a sportsbook, you might be frustrated by the lack of certain types of bets, like parlays, for instance. 

Desktop 

I appreciate Kalshi’s all-white interface. It allows colors to stand out effectively from the screen, and the black typeface was easy to read on Chrome. Their interface is simple to a fault, with a few filters included to help sort through the different markets. 

I used the top menu rows to sort their markets by category and then by sport. 

Clicking “Sort/Filter” allowed me to sort event contracts based on popularity, volatility, recency, total volume, and liquidity.

However, not all of these filters were working during my Kalshi review. One filtering option called 50-50 is supposed to show markets where both sides are close to 50%, but nothing happened for me when I turned it on. 

Toggling the slider to show “Contract Price” allowed me to see the specific price for each event contract. 

Instead of seeing “Yes/No,” you’ll see the best price for a single “yes” contract and the best price for a single “no” contract. It may sound complex if you’re used to simply seeing moneyline odds, but I found it very easy to grasp the format and understand what was happening at a glance.

I like the way you can be more involved in how other players are using Kalshi, which doesn’t really happen at traditional sportsbooks. 

You can check out the real-time leaderboards, where you can see the top dogs in terms of total profit and series volume by opening the top-right menu and toggling “Leaderboard.” 

Unlike the concept of leaderboards at traditional casinos and sportsbooks, Kalshi doesn’t offer prizes for top-ranked players. Instead, it’s just a nice feature to get a sense of the activity on the site. 

You can borrow inspiration from the most successful traders by clicking their usernames to view their real-time trades, ideas, markets, and comments. Alternatively, clicking "Activity" gives you more of a bird’s eye view of everything happening on the site, and trades being completed right now.

The whole experience feels very much like participating in a marketplace, with the digital hustle and bustle of other Kalshi users all around you. 

Mobile App 

There is a Kalshi mobile app available for both iOS and Android.

As a federally regulated financial exchange market, Kalshi has no problem adhering to the App Store and Google Play’s guidelines. I downloaded their iOS app to my iPhone 16, and my trading experience was fluid from the word go. 

After signing in with my email and password, I was brought to Kalshi’s trending categories. They have kept the interface looking similar between desktop and mobile, so I didn’t have any issues transitioning between devices. 

Their logo still functions as a home button, and their categories are condensed into a scrollable horizontal list at the top of your screen. On mobile, I was able to view in-game markets from the bottom-right corner by clicking “Live.” 

Most of the navigation is through the bottom-row menu. I was able to search for markets, fund my account, explore other users’ freshest ideas, or launch the main menu with one hand free.

My overall impression of using Kalshi is a clean, sleek experience and the app is a big part of that. 

Kalshi Features 

Kalshi doesn’t support traditional moneyline wagers and many other markets you’re used to from traditional sportsbooks. 

That said, I found it surprisingly easy to understand Kalshi’s event contracts, and ultimately, I ended up betting on many of the same sports and games that I usually would - albeit via Kalshi’s Yes/No prediction format. 

They also cover a lot more than just sports wagers, with tons of non-sports markets, live trades and a public forum of ideas.

Kalshi Sports Markets

Kalshi’s basic sports markets resemble futures bets. During my Kalshi review, the first sports markets I saw were things like Pro Men's Basketball Champion? Champions League Winner? and Masters Tournament Winner?

For each of the potential teams or outcomes, you can choose either Yes or No. 

There were also markets for individual games, but I could only bet on the outcome. At a traditional sportsbook, I would be used to seeing hundreds of ways to bet on upcoming games, including spreads, props and plenty more. 

I can see this being frustrating for more experienced bettors who want to get granular with their predictions. For this reason, Kalshi does seem more suited to casual bettors.

Buying a contract is very similar to placing a bet on a sportsbook. After you click either Yes or No (or the corresponding value, if you have turned on the Contract Price button), a little window opens that looks just like a bet slip. Type in your stake and confirm the trade.

During my Kalshi review, they were accepting action on the following sports:

• Basketball 

• Soccer 

• Golf 

• Tennis 

• Baseball

• Football

• Formula 1 

• Hockey 

• UFC 

• Video Games 

Live Betting 

Kalshi’s live betting section isn’t exactly like the live section at regular sportsbooks. It does show some events happening now, but also upcoming events for the next few days. 

At the time of my review, I was able to access live contracts for golf and soccer.

They don’t offer streaming of any kind, but I saw my winning odds change based on real-time score updates every few minutes. 

If you're looking for traditional live betting, take a look at the best live betting sites.

I decided to place my first live wager on the Barcelona vs SL Benfica match-up, which wasn’t actually live but taking place a couple of days later. 

Each individual contract was priced at $0.93 or $0.08, respectively. Spending $10 got me 111 contracts, which promised more than 11x my original stake if Benfica overcame Barcelona. 

It all sounds kind of technical, but the truth is you don’t really need to pay attention to concepts like contracts. It’s easy to see how the bets work from just a glance. I liked the way Kalshi showed my prospective payout after I chose a stake - just like a bet slip on a regular sportsbook. 

Non-Sports Bets at Kalshi 

Kalshi is a financial exchange market first, and sports wagers are just a small part of what they have to offer. Beyond sports, they allow traders to wager against one another on various topics. 

Here are some of the categories on offer: 

• Politics

• Culture 

• Crypto 

• Climate

• Economics

• Companies

• Financials

• Tech & Science

• Health

• World 

From betting on the weather and choosing the #1 song on the Billboard Top 200 to predicting the number of active measles cases this year and shining a light on Trump’s tariffs, Kalshi is a space for random ideas to compete. 

When you click into a trade, it shows you both the history of the action in graph format and a tab of suggested related markets. I found this especially helpful for exploring the non-sports markets since they are so wide-ranging. 

Public Forums & Ideas

Kalshi’s Ideas is a space on the site that lets you connect with other players. The interface looks pretty similar to Twitter (X), and you have an 800-character limit for every post. 

I had fun scrolling through people’s latest predictions, watching traders interact in comment threads, and putting my thumb on the pulse of Kalshi’s community.

I also found this space useful for asking questions about how certain features worked, with other players answering me in real-time. This was especially helpful since Kalshi doesn’t have live chat customer support (more on that later).

I also toggled over to Live Trader, which shows the same information as their “Activity” feed. While it’s nice to have real-time updates at my fingertips, they don’t need duplicate sections to show the same stream of live trades. 

There is also a Market Builder where you can create and offer action on your own markets.

Kalshi Deposits & Withdrawals 

Making deposits and withdrawals is easy at Kalshi, and feels similar to the same process at a regular sportsbook.

Beginners will have no trouble getting their money in and out of their Kalshi account, and age verification is built into their website ahead of time. I didn’t have to submit a photo of my ID or proof of address before withdrawing funds. 

Kalshi accepts many of the same betting payment methods you’ll find at traditional sportsbooks, as well as cryptocurrency. Unlike most sportsbooks, they also charge varying fees on both deposits and withdrawals. 

See more on betting sites that accept crypto.

Let’s take a closer look: 

Kalshi Deposits

I could fund my account using Visa, Mastercard, Google Pay, instant bank transfer, wire transfer, and crypto on Kalshi’s desktop website. I downloaded their app to my iPhone 16 and found another option to use Apple Pay, but this method also comes with a 2% processing fee.

Here is how the process looked for me for a $10 deposit:

1. I clicked “Deposit Cash” from their homepage. On the next page, I clicked “Deposit to Kalshi” and selected “Debit Card.

2. I typed in the amount of cash I wanted to deposit, clicked “Add a Card” and entered my billing address. 

3. I was then prompted to enter my name, card number, expiry date, and CVV code.

4. Finally, I clicked “Pay $9.80 + $0.20 fee,” refreshed the page, and saw $9.80 in my account balance 30 seconds later. 

I’m not used to being charged to fund a sportsbook, so this is a downside of using Kalshi. 

You must deposit a minimum of $10 in cash, but I didn’t see a minimum for crypto traders. I saw options to send crypto funds through Ethereum, Optimism, Polygon, and Solana. 

The methods have variable maximum deposit limits:

• Debit Cards - $2,500 limit

• Apple Pay - $2,500 limit

• Instant bank transfer - $10,000 limit

• Crypto - $500,000 limit

Wire transfers have a $2,500 minimum but no maximum, making them the best choice for high rollers and crypto. 

It’s a good range of payment methods, in my opinion, catering to all kinds of users with different budgets. 

Kalshi Withdrawals

The withdrawal process is very similar to deposits, only in reverse. Click the “Withdraw from Kalshi” button, choose your method and follow the instructions. 

Cash withdrawals at Kalshi are processed via debit card or bank transfer. Crypto traders can withdraw via ETH, Polygon, SOL, or Optimism.

There is a $2 fee for all debit withdrawals, and crypto transfers are subject to third-party fees from ZeroHash.

Both debit card and crypto withdrawals are delivered in less than 30 minutes. ACH transfers via Plaid have no fees and no maximums, but they can take 3 - 4 days for processing and delivery. 

I chose a debit card withdrawal and found the process fast and smooth. I just typed in my details, confirmed the request and the money hit my account within ten minutes. 

I do admit that the $2 fee left a slightly bitter taste in my mouth, since it’s not something I’m used to experiencing when I bet using regular sportsbooks. 

Kalshi Payment Methods Comparison 

Here’s a comparison of how Kalshi’s payment methods compare to real money sportsbooks: 

Kalshi Customer Support 

Kalshi has email and FAQ support exclusively. They don’t offer phone or live chat support, and their agents didn’t respond to my social media messages, but there is a very active Kalshi Discord server, which includes representatives from the company. 

I sent an email to [email protected] asking about how their fees are calculated, and I got a response from their team the next day. Our conversation took up much of the week, so I often felt I got better answers from other traders using Kalshi’s 6,000-strong Discord server. 

Sometimes, when I asked a question, I got a response from a Kalshi employee. Other times, only other players answered, and my question soon got lost in the traffic before anyone from Kalshi answered. 

While speaking with other traders isn’t a substitute for knowledgeable agents, it drives home the fact that everyone is looking out for one another. Kalshi’s community were helpful and chatty as they caught me up to speed with new contracts and explained how things work around their site.

If you’d rather learn the ropes independently, click the top-right menu icon and open “Help” to see Kalshi’s comprehensive Help Center. They explain how Kalshi works, how to deposit and withdraw money, tax information and a lot more.

I will say that I found the Help Center to be very heavy on corporate jargon. I think they could do a better job of explaining things in simple language. 

Although I appreciate Kalshi’s active Discord server and in-depth Help Center, I wish there was a way to speak with trained agents in real time. 

Is Kalshi Legit? 

Kalshi is a legit financial exchange market regulated at a Federal level. Trading at Kalshi is not considered sports betting in the same way as betting on sites like BetMGM or FanDuel. 

Kalshi was regulated as a “Designated Contract Market” by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in 2020, and they first opened shop in July 2021. In January 2025, they started hosting sports markets. 

Kalshi accepts secure payment methods like Visa, Mastercard, bank transfer, wire transfer and Apple Pay for deposits and withdrawals. Kalshi has also partnered with ZeroHash to monitor crypto transactions for tax, regulatory, and safety purposes. 

ZeroHash operates in more than 200 countries, has served five million end customers, supports more than sixty kinds of crypto and has settled more than $45 billion in total transaction volume. 

Beyond their commitment to security, Kalshi demonstrates a high degree of public transparency.

Kalshi is backed by high-profile investors like Charles Schwab, Henry Kravis and Y Combinator. Their LinkedIn has 14k followers, and their company employs between 51 - 200 people. 

What States Is Kalshi Legal In? 

Kalshi is legal to use in all 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. Kalshi is a federally regulated financial exchange market and, as such, it can operate in locations that prohibit real money sports and casino betting. 

How to Sign Up for Kalshi 

I registered with Kalshi in just five minutes, and their step-by-step instructions made it possible to speed through the process. Here’s how I made a new account and started browsing markets: 

1. Create a new account: Click “Sign Up” at the top-right corner of Kalshi’s website. You’ll notice options to register using Google, your Apple ID, or an email address. I chose to enter my email and create a new password before clicking “Continue” to proceed. 

2. Verify your email: Open your inbox and look for a new message from Kalshi. If you don’t see it appear momentarily, check your spam or junk folder. Once you find their message, open it and copy the code. Paste your six-digit code on their website and tap “Continue.” 

3. Verify your phone: On the next screen, enter your date of birth and type your cell phone number when prompted. You’ll receive a verification code through SMS. Enter your SMS code on their website and wait for the page to refresh automatically. 

4. Verify your identity: Enter your first name, last name, and residential address on the next page. Finally, enter your nine-digit Social Security Number and click “Submit” to register. 

I was redirected to Kalshi’s homepage as soon as I finished signing up and verifying my details. 

Once you’re ready to deposit money, click “Deposit Cash” and follow their instructions.

Kalshi Responsible Gambling 

Kalshi does not offer responsible gambling services that I am used to seeing at traditional sportsbooks.

There’s no way to impose deposit limits, set trading limits, or take a break from the action. While they operate as a financial exchange market, they have an ethical duty to protect sports bettors who use their site for this purpose. 

They’ve dropped the ball almost entirely in this department. According to Kalshi’s Help Center, it’s possible to de-activate your account using their provided links. However, re-activating your account is as simple as logging in with your credentials. 

Because they operate under federal exchange laws, Kalshi is not legally allowed to delete your account. Worst of all, there’s no wait time between deactivation and reactivation. Someone who wants to avoid the platform can simply log in if they change their mind in a few hours.

Kalshi also doesn’t link to resources for problem gamblers. WSN doesn’t agree with this approach, and we take the safety of every user seriously. Our Responsible Gambling Center shows readers how to stay in control of the action. 

You can read “Do You Have a Gambling Problem?” or take our linked Gambling Self-Assessment Quiz if you or someone you know is struggling to moderate. If you need more support, we link to responsible gambling tools and resources for casino players and sports bettors in all fifty states. 

Kalshi Final Verdict 

Kalshi is unlike any sports betting website I’ve ever seen, but that didn’t stop me from having a lot of fun. In my opinion, the sports betting experience here is much more suited to beginners and casual players. 

The Yes/No betting format is simple and intuitive and doesn’t require prior knowledge of things like line movement, betting against the spread, or parlaying multiple bets together - none of which come into the equation at Kalshi.

The fact that you can play in all 50 states is very impressive. 

On the flip side, I think experienced bettors will prefer the deeper range of betting options at traditional sportsbooks. 

Kalshi’s $10 welcome bonus is much smaller than the offers you can find at other sportsbooks, and they don’t have bonus bets, a VIP program or any ongoing promotions in that vein. 

The lack of live chat support is a definite drawback, although I enjoyed connecting with other players on the Discord server.

All in all, Kalshi is certainly an interesting site. If you want an extremely simple way to get into sports betting or, indeed, speculating on all kinds of markets, I definitely recommend checking it out. For sports betting purists, less so. 

How We Rate Sportsbooks 

We use the same rating process for every sportsbook we review to provide an overview of each platform’s biggest strengths and weaknesses. All in all, we spend at least seven days playing on every site we review. 

Our team spends ten hours diving into five important areas, allocating two hours for each of the following benchmarks: 

1. User Experience: We register new accounts and test out all the features of the sportsbook. If there is a mobile app available, we download it. We appreciate well-designed software that makes the betting experience easy for beginners but also satisfying for more experienced bettors. 

2. Features: We dive into the betting options, placing bets on dozens of sports and comparing the markets to competitors. We pay special attention to unique features, like live streaming or pick’em sports games. We compare the odds to other sportsbooks leading sportsbooks too. 

3. Promotions: We claim every promo we can find, starting from the welcome bonus. We go deep on the small print to understand the wagering requirements, and judge how valuable each bonus is accordingly. We love sportsbooks that hand out bonus cash up front, but we also appreciate ongoing promotions for regular players. 

4. Deposits and Withdrawals: We test out a range of deposit and withdrawal methods so our readers know exactly what to expect. We like to see low transaction limits, smooth payment software, and no fees anywhere in the process. Bank cards and bank transfers are standard, but we also like to see e-wallets, cash options like PayNearMe and mobile-friendly methods like Venmo and Apple Pay. 

5. Customer Support: Our experts speak with support agents using every contact method that’s available at a sportsbook. Live chat is always our favorite, but we also draft emails, submit tickets, make phone calls (if possible), and send messages on social media. We note response speeds across the board, prioritize sites that offer real-time assistance, and base ratings on their efficiency. 

Why You Should Trust Us 

Since 2005, World Sports Network (WSN) has worked toward becoming a one-stop shop for all your casino and sports-related news. We’ve been featured by the likes of CBS News, Forbes, Reuters, Entrepreneur, and the LA Times as a reliable and trustworthy source of sports news. 

The writers at WSN are all fans of sports and betting, first and foremost. We love getting paid to test out sportsbooks, but we’d be doing it anyway. 

After more than two decades in the industry, we’ve seen it all and know what makes a great site stand out from a good one. We spot details the average player might miss and we explain them to our readers in a way that is clear and helpful.

We love sharing our favorite discoveries and recommending the best new promotions when they drop. At the same time, we always call out things that can be improved and never direct our readers to sportsbooks we wouldn’t personally use ourselves.