Prediction markets,
explained plainly
Guides and analysis on how prediction markets work: which platforms you can legally access, what the regulatory picture looks like, and how to find the best pricing on any contract.
Is Kalshi Legit?
Kalshi is a CFTC-regulated prediction market exchange. Here is what its regulation, identity checks and clearinghouse actually cover, and what they do not.
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Election Night 2026: When Polls Close, and What Prediction Markets Do With the Results
Poll closing times for the 3 November 2026 US midterms in ET, UK and Spain time, plus how Kalshi and Polymarket actually settle their control markets.
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Is Polymarket Legal in the US?
Is Polymarket legal in the US? Polymarket US is a CFTC-regulated exchange; polymarket.com does not accept US traders. A Nevada court has enjoined Polymarket US.
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Is Kalshi Legal in Nevada?
A plain-English guide to Kalshi's legal position in Nevada, the Gaming Control Board injunction, the Ninth Circuit ruling, and what it means for traders.
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How Does Kalshi Make Money?
How does Kalshi make money? A plain-English look at trading fees, maker versus taker charges, interest arrangements and the economics behind the exchange.
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When Do Election Prediction Markets Pay Out? Calls, Recounts and Certification
When do election prediction markets actually pay out? A plain-English guide to how Polymarket and Kalshi resolve US election contracts, and why dates differ.
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New Jersey's Supreme Court Petition in the Kalshi Case: What It Asks and What Happens Next
New Jersey has asked the Supreme Court to review the Kalshi sports contracts case. Here is what the petition argues, what the Third Circuit held, and what happens next.
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Is Kalshi Legal in Washington State?
A Washington court order bars Kalshi from sports, election, politics and five other contract categories in the state, and leaves four out. What it covers, and where the case stands.
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Is Kalshi Legal in California?
Is Kalshi legal in California? Kalshi still serves most of California, but a September 2026 Ninth Circuit ruling found its sports contracts likely unlawful gaming on tribal lands.
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How Does Polymarket Make Money?
How does Polymarket make money? Taker fees on most polymarket.com markets, a fee schedule on Polymarket US, and what ICE's investment and data deal say. Checked against Polymarket's own documentation.
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How to Withdraw From Kalshi
How to withdraw from Kalshi by debit card, bank transfer, PayPal, Venmo, crypto or wire: timings, fees, limits and holds, checked against Kalshi's help centre.
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Can You Parlay on Kalshi? How Combos Actually Work
Yes, Kalshi offers multi-leg trades called Combos. Here's how they're priced, what they pay, and how they differ from a sportsbook parlay. Checked October 2026.
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Is Kalshi Legal in Texas?
Is Kalshi legal in Texas? Yes, for residents aged 18 and over. Here's why, what you can trade, and where the state's sports contract rules stand.
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Political Betting Markets: Is Election Betting Legal in the US and UK?
Is election betting legal? A plain-English look at how US courts, the CFTC and the UK Gambling Commission treat political prediction markets.
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Are Prediction Markets Gambling? What UK and US Law Says
The question of whether prediction markets count as gambling has no single answer. UK and US regulators and courts have reached very different conclusions.
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What Is an Event Contract? The Regulated US Term for Prediction Market Bets
Event contracts are the CFTC-regulated form of prediction market bet. What they are, how Kalshi lists them, and the legal fights still shaping where they can trade.
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Prediction Markets for Entertainment Awards: Emmys, Globes, Grammys and Oscars Explained
How prediction markets price the Emmys, Golden Globes, Grammys and Oscars, where the probabilities come from, and what traders should know before betting.
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Kalshi vs DraftKings: Two Different Models for US Sports Prediction Markets
Kalshi vs DraftKings on US sports prediction markets: how a CFTC-regulated exchange and a sportsbook operator approach the same events with very different mechanics.
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Polymarket vs PredictIt: The Crypto-Native Platform Versus the Academic Original
Polymarket vs PredictIt compared: fees, liquidity, market depth, US access, and which platform actually suits which kind of trader.
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Polymarket Disputes and Resolutions: How the UMA Oracle Settles Disagreements
How Polymarket disputes and resolutions actually work, from UMA's optimistic oracle to bond economics, escalation, and the rare cases that go badly wrong.
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Prediction Markets vs Futures Trading: How Event Contracts Differ From CME Futures
Prediction markets vs futures trading compared: how event contracts on Kalshi and Polymarket differ from CME futures in payoff, margin, regulation, and liquidity.
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Are Prediction Markets Better Than Pundits? Here’s what the data says
Are prediction markets better than pundits? We examine the data behind prediction markets, polls, experts and forecasting models to find out.
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What Are Polymarket Combos? How They Differ From a Sportsbook Parlay
What Polymarket Combos are, and the two structural things that make a Combo different from a sportsbook parlay: it can be sold before resolution when someone will buy it, and its price is set by competing market makers through an RFQ auction. Checked against Polymarket's own documentation.
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The UK Gambling Commission's View on Prediction Markets: What Operators and Users Need to Know
How the UK Gambling Commission treats prediction markets, why Polymarket and Kalshi sit outside the licensed perimeter, and what UK users and operators should actually do.
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What Are Oracles in Prediction Markets? Inside Polymarket's UMA Resolution System
How oracles decide who wins on Polymarket, Kalshi and other prediction markets. UMA, dispute windows, and why resolution is the riskiest part of every trade.
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What Are Conditional Markets? Polymarket's If-Then Contracts Explained
Conditional markets let traders price 'if X, then Y' scenarios. Here's how they work on Polymarket, why they matter, and where they break.
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What Is a Binary Option? How They Differ From Prediction Markets
Binary options and prediction markets both pay fixed amounts on yes/no outcomes, but the resemblance ends there. Here is what actually separates them.
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Smarkets Event Markets: The UK Exchange Approach to Trading Outcomes
How Smarkets runs event markets from London under UK licensing, what the 2% commission actually costs, and how it stacks up against Betfair and Polymarket.
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How Polymarket's Political Markets Work, Read Through the 2026 US Midterms
How Polymarket's political markets work, explained through the live 2026 US midterm contracts: market structures, resolution, fees, and how to read the prices.
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Why Prediction Markets Run on Crypto Rails
Trump's disclosure booked over $1bn in crypto income while the flagship token fell 97%. Here is what that gap teaches about the crypto rails every Polymarket trade runs on.
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How Polymarket Works: The Crypto-Native Prediction Market Explained
How Polymarket works: the crypto-native prediction market where traders buy YES and NO shares in real-world events, priced between 0 and 1 dollar.
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How to Spot Mispriced Prediction Markets: Where Inefficiencies Hide
A practical guide to spotting mispriced prediction markets, from stale liquidity and resolution ambiguity to the corners where smart money still finds edge.
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Prediction Market Trading Strategies for Beginners: Five Approaches That Actually Work
Five prediction market trading strategies that suit beginners, from probability gaps to liquidity plays, with worked examples and the risks nobody flags.
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How to Make Money on Prediction Markets: The Realistic Guide for New Traders
How to make money on prediction markets, honestly. The edges that exist, the ones that don't, and what a realistic returns profile actually looks like.
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How to fund a Polymarket account with USDC: the practical guide for new prediction market traders
A step-by-step walkthrough on how to fund a Polymarket account with USDC from a UK or US start: wallet setup, the Polygon network, exchanges, and fees.
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How World Cup Group-Stage Tiebreakers Actually Resolve, and What Prediction Markets Do With Them
The 2026 World Cup tiebreaker order changed: head-to-head now beats overall goal difference. Here is how it works and why prediction markets price it.
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Are Prediction Markets Legal in Europe? Navigating the EU's Complex Regulatory Landscape
Are prediction markets legal in Europe? A clear-eyed guide to EU rules, national gambling regimes, and what users can actually access today.
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Are Prediction Markets Legal in Canada? A Province-by-Province Guide
Are prediction markets legal in Canada? A clear guide to the federal rules, provincial gaming regulators, and what Canadians can actually access today.
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Is Kalshi Legal in All 50 States? Why CFTC Regulation Matters for State-Level Access
Kalshi runs under CFTC oversight, but state regulators have pushed back hard. Here is the honest picture of where Kalshi sits in all 50 US states.
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Is Polymarket Legal in New York? Why the State's Gambling Laws Matter More Than Most
Is Polymarket legal in New York? The state's gambling laws collide with federal event contract rules in ways that matter for any would-be trader.
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Is Polymarket Legal in Texas? Conservative Gambling Laws Meet Federal Event Contracts
Is Polymarket legal in Texas? A clear-eyed guide to how the state's strict gambling laws collide with federally regulated event contracts, and what Texans can actually trade.
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Is Polymarket Legal in California? The State-by-State Access Question
Can Californians use Polymarket? The honest answer on state-level access, what changed after the QCEX acquisition, and what residents can legally trade today.
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Who Wins on Prediction Markets? 1% Take 76.5% of Gains
A 2026 study of $67bn in Polymarket trades finds 1% of users capture 76.5% of gains. Here is what separates the winners from the losing majority.
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How to Place Your First Prediction Market Trade: A Beginner's Walkthrough
A practical, step-by-step guide to placing your first prediction market trade, covering Kalshi for US users and the UK-licensed alternatives that actually work.
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How to Read Kalshi Odds: Understanding Event Contract Pricing
Learn how to read Kalshi odds, decode cent-based contract pricing, and translate Yes and No quotes into the implied probabilities they really represent.
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How to Read Polymarket Odds: Turning Prices Into Probabilities
A clear guide to reading Polymarket odds: how cent prices translate to probability, what the spread tells you, and where the numbers can mislead.
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How to Open a Kalshi Account: A Step-by-Step Guide for US Traders
A practical walkthrough for opening a Kalshi account in the US: sign-up, ID verification, funding, fees, and the common mistakes that slow new traders down.
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Can You Use ADI PredictStreet in the UK?
Can UK users access ADI PredictStreet? The short answer involves Matchbook, a Gibraltar licence, and a UKGC question that has not been settled.
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What the Prediction Markets Expect From the 2026 World Cup
Pre-registered prediction market baseline for the 2026 World Cup: outright winner, finalists, all 12 group winners and golden boot. As of 11 June 2026.
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Why Prediction Markets Are Accurate, and Where That Breaks Down: Wisdom of Crowds, Brier Scores, and Four Ways Markets Fail
Why prediction markets are accurate: how skin-in-the-game pricing, Brier scores, and calibration data explain when crowds beat polls and pundits, and when they do not.
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Binary Options vs Event Contracts: Why One Is Regulated and the Other Isn't
Binary options vs event contracts: why the CFTC banned one off-exchange and licensed the other. The regulatory split, in plain English, for US traders.
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Prediction Markets vs Traditional Bookmakers: Why Trading Against Other Users Changes the Odds
Prediction markets vs traditional bookmakers: why peer-to-peer odds beat the high-street margin, what you give up, and how UK traders should weigh the trade-off.
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Event Contracts vs Spread Betting: Two Routes to Trading the Same Outcome
Event contracts and spread betting both let you trade outcomes, but the mechanics, tax treatment and risk profiles differ sharply. Here is the working comparison.
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Smarkets vs Polymarket: How a UK Exchange Compares to a Global Prediction Platform
Smarkets vs Polymarket compared for UK users: fees, liquidity, market range, legality, and which one actually makes sense depending on what you want to trade.
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Kalshi vs Robinhood Prediction Markets: Which Platform Should US Users Choose?
Kalshi vs Robinhood prediction markets compared for US users: fees, market depth, regulation, and which platform actually fits how you want to trade.
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Yes Shares vs No Shares: How Binary Prediction Markets Actually Work
Yes shares vs no shares in prediction markets: how the two sides of a binary contract are priced, settled, and why the maths always adds to a dollar.
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What Is Liquidity in Prediction Markets? Why Some Contracts Are Thin and What That Means for Traders
Liquidity in prediction markets decides whether your trade fills at a fair price or moves the market against you. Here's how it works and why it matters.
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What Is Market Resolution? How Prediction Markets Decide Winners
Market resolution is how prediction markets settle: the moment a contract pays out 100 cents or zero. Here is exactly how it works, and where it goes wrong.
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Prediction Market Tax: UK and US Rules for Traders
HMRC's gambling-versus-investment line on Polymarket and Kalshi profits, and the IRS treatment of CFTC-regulated event contracts. Where the rules are settled, where they are not, and the records you should be keeping today.
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Kalshi Event Contracts Explained: What You're Trading
Kalshi event contracts are CFTC-regulated derivatives, not state-by-state sports bets, and that legal distinction is doing real work. What event contracts are, how they settle, and why the language matters.
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Polymarket Arbitrage Explained: How Traders Find an Edge
Same outcome, different platforms, different prices, and the gap is the arb. The mechanics of cross-platform and same-platform arbitrage, why the gaps exist, and the execution risks that turn paper profits into losses.
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Are Prediction Markets More Accurate Than Polls?
Polymarket called Trump weeks before the major aggregators in 2024. We break down where prediction markets beat polls, where polls still win, and what each one is actually measuring underneath the headline number.
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How to Read Prediction Market Odds and Implied Probability
A 67 cent price is a 67 per cent implied probability. How to read prediction market odds, convert bookmaker odds and spot where the price misleads.
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Prediction Markets vs Sports Betting: What's the Difference?
A Kalshi contract on an NFL game looks identical to a FanDuel bet on the same game. They are not the same product. How they differ on fees, pricing transparency, regulation, tax treatment, and consumer protections, and who each suits.
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Are Prediction Markets Legal in the US? Kalshi and Polymarket 2026
Federally legal, contested in a growing list of states. Where Kalshi and Polymarket US stand as of 2 October 2026, court by court, and what it means for you.
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What Are Prediction Markets? A Plain-English Guide
Prediction markets turn questions about the future into prices. How the core mechanic works, where the probability comes from, a brief history from the Iowa Electronic Markets to Kalshi's $43 billion 2025 volume, and how to get started.
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Is Polymarket Legal in the UK? Prediction Markets Law 2026
Polymarket and Kalshi block UK users. Why the FCA's 2019 rule catches them, whether a VPN is safe, and the UK-licensed exchanges you can use instead.
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