What are Polymarket and Kalshi? What are the odds on US-style exchanges taking off in the UK? Here’s the lowdown
As ballistic missiles and kamikaze drones rained down on the Middle East, one of the world’s most talked-about businesses was inviting wagers on whether nuclear Armageddon might be imminent.
Polymarket is a prediction market, a relatively new breed of betting company that has burst on to the scene, particularly in the US, often seducing customers with little previous interest in gambling.
Alongside its larger rival Kalshi, Polymarket offers the chance to stake money on everything from the result of last week’s Gorton and Denton byelection to whether the US will confirm the existence of aliens before 2027.
Its market on nuclear Armageddon now appears to have been taken down, after widespread distaste circulating online for the prospect of wagering on the deaths of millions of humans. Polymarket did not return a request for comment.
