Kalshi's Parlay Breakthrough Happens in the Night

Kalshi stealth-released its first customizable parlays Monday night. It did not make an official announcement about the new NFL offering despite the combo bets representing a milestone achievement for the U.S. prediction markets app.

For months, Kalshi and its competitors have contemplated how to offer parlays that resemble what sportsbooks present customers. It has been a struggle, with the pre-made sports parlays created by exchange operators not moving the needle.

But on Monday, the company began to let users combine pregame bets into one long-odds wager for the Miami Dolphins vs. New York Jets and Cincinnati Bengals vs. Denver Broncos games. Users could only stack parlay legs within the same contest—so no multi-game parlays—and the parlay option disappeared shortly before kickoff. Available legs to choose from included points spread, moneyline, total points scored and anytime touchdown scorer. Once the legs were selected, parlays were filled almost immediately.

Kalshi has offered little information about the underlying mechanics.

Unlike other trading markets on its platform, during the time the customizable parlays were available, Kalshi’s public app had no apparent feature enabling “limit orders” in which retail customers could propose a betting line for others to take. Instead, odds were presented by Kalshi as take it or leave it, and it is unclear who set the prices and whether the process conflicted with its peer-to-peer messaging.

Additionally, there wasn’t an orderbook showing outstanding contract offers or information on price movement over time, though insights for each individual leg were still available.

Kalshi did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Earlier Monday, Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour appeared on a Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) roundtable panel in Washington, D.C., geared toward the “harmonization” of the CFTC and SEC to “could unlock economic value for platforms while continuing to protect investors.”

Mansour, Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan and Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi advocated on the panel for freedom to push boundaries in the name of innovation. They expressed concern that if the CFTC and SEC over-regulated prediction markets and cryptocurrency, it could allow overseas competitors to dominate.

“Free markets are a great thing, I think we all agree a driving force for economic prosperity,” Mansour said.

While Kalshi has seen more leniency from the CFTC—its de facto regulator—under President Donald Trump, it remains locked in court battles with several states, which believe they should regulate sports prediction markets rather than a federal agency. Tribal groups, meanwhile, allege Kalshi and its rivals are infringing on their sovereign rights.