PrizePicks Launches Prediction Markets Through Kalshi Partnership
PrizePicks has launched its prediction market offering across 38 states and the District of Columbia. The service, operating through the company’s subsidiary, Performance Predictions II, LLC, results from a multi-year partnership with Kalshi, which is described as the world’s largest prediction market.
New Market Gameplay Categories
The new prediction market system introduces two main categories for customer forecasts. Customers use Kalshi’s extensive library of event contracts for all wagers. This partnership allows PrizePicks to rapidly expand its product catalog by integrating federally regulated market contracts.
The first category, Team Picks, focuses on traditional sports outcomes. This includes choosing game or fight winners, or predicting team performance across a whole season. Examples are forecasts on total wins, playoff chances, and championship results.
The second category, Culture Picks, expands the platform beyond sports for the first time. Customers can now make predictions on major cultural events and pop culture storylines. This covers forecasting the winners of major awards like Best Picture or Album of the Year, alongside outcomes for key political elections.
Mike Ybarra, CEO of PrizePicks, stated the move was an answer to customer demand. “Expanding into prediction markets delivers on what our customers want, innovative products with more ways to play,” Ybarra said. Tarek Mansour, Co-founder and CEO of Kalshi, also commented on the integration. “As of today, people will be able to access Kalshi’s prediction markets within the PrizePicks app,” he noted.
Market Access and Compliance Structure
PrizePicks launched its prediction markets using Kalshi’s infrastructure for speed and regulatory assurance. The company is the first sports entertainment operator to register as a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) with the National Futures Association (NFA). This status allows PrizePicks to legally offer prediction markets by partnering with federally regulated Designated Contract Markets (DCMs).
Geographical availability for the new markets varies by category. The cultural prediction markets are available in 38 states, including key markets like New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The sports-related Team Picks are available in 15 states, which covers Texas and PrizePicks’ home state of Georgia. States like California and Florida are not included in the initial launch for sports markets.
The decision to launch first with Kalshi was strategic. PrizePicks announced a multi-year partnership with Polymarket only three days before the Kalshi launch. A PrizePicks spokesperson confirmed the company intends to work with multiple DCMs, including Kalshi and Polymarket.
However, the immediate launch relied on Kalshi because Polymarket’s US product was still in its beta testing phase, enabling a quicker go-to-market timeline. Mansour called the partnership a “game-changing moment” and expressed excitement about being “the first to fuel and supercharge the PrizePicks fan experience.”
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