Here's a look at how much money has been bet on the 2024 presidential election

By Weston Blasi

Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris to win control of the White House; This is how many people bet on the race

How big was the betting on the 2024 presidential election? We now have the answer.

Two brands that accepted election bets had hundreds of millions of dollars at stake during the November election, according to data from a pair of sites that offered election bets — also known as futures contracts.

Bettors had $132 million at stake on tech startup platform Kalshi in the presidential race alone, a company representative told MarketWatch. The total amount at stake with Kalshi was $400 million for all contracts across the platform, including Senate, House of Representatives and some state races.

That figure only applies to people in the US.

At ForecastEx LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Interactive Brokers (IBKR), $538 million was wagered on the 2024 presidential election as of Nov. 6, a company spokesperson told MarketWatch.

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It is worth noting that the total amount at stake is not the same as the trading volume for these contracts. For example, a person could buy a position for $100, sell it and buy it again, and that person would have only bet $100 but built up a trading volume of $300.

MarketWatch’s Gordon Gottsegen reported that some brokers made just a few million dollars in revenue from these offers, making money by charging a 1-cent commission per contract.

“Since investors must commit capital to express their beliefs, they are engaged and informed about a topic,” Steve Sanders, EVP of marketing and product development at Interactive Brokers, told MarketWatch. “ForecastEx provided highly predictive, real-time data to both investors and the broader market.”

Both Kalshi and Interactive Brokers’s ForecastEx are regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

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A few other brokers and websites offered election contract betting this cycle, including Robinhood and Polymarket. Robinhood (HOOD) did not immediately disclose the total amount of money at stake in election betting, and PolyMarket did not respond to a request for comment. Polymarket is not available to people in the US

Interactive Brokers and Kalshi tend to avoid using descriptions like “bet,” “wager” or “odds,” saying instead that these offers allow traders to get a view on a future event.

Both companies call these bets “contracts,” which are essentially yes-or-no bets. For example, there could be a contract titled “Donald Trump to Become 47th US President” with a contract price of 52 cents for “yes” and 48 cents for “no.”

Read more: Trump’s plan to cut taxes on Social Security benefits could cost beneficiaries more in the long run

-Weston Blasi

This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently of Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

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