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Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour Talks Sports, The Industry, Expansion

Lou Monaco

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Publish Date: Oct 02, 2025

Fact checked by: Sara Jane Gamelli

No matter what you think about them, prediction markets over the last year or so have been the talk of the town.

So why not hear from the head of one of the biggest prediction market companies out there: Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour.

Photographer: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Posted on Wednesday, Oct. 1, Mansour appeared on the latest live episode of Bloomberg’s Odd Lots podcast from the Untitled Supper Club in Chicago to discuss Kalshi’s growth, the importance of prediction markets, and the company's regulatory-first approach to expansion.

Below are three excerpted quotes from Mansour’s appearance, which was hosted by Bloomberg’s Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway:

On the importance of prediction markets >

"When we first started the company, this idea of a financial market that prices questions about the future… we were very drawn to it because, one, if you could build such a financial market, it could be the largest of them all because the largest number of people will care.

And the number two is it could be the most important because… yes, pricing the share of Tesla is important, but pricing whether Brexit is going to happen or Trump's going to win an election… I think that's at least as important, if not more."

On Kalshi’s comparative advantage >

"I'm just a strong believer in markets. I think a market-based model for this market is better than the over-the-counter sportsbook model because the odds are better, anyone can be a price bidder, they don't have to be a price taker, and the results show less people, the percentage of people that basically lose on Kalshi is closer to 50/50.

That's just not the case in a traditional sportsbook

And I think that's the sort of argument that wins it long term… this is just better. You get better prices, more transparency, and the ability to influence, basically participate in a way that you can't in a traditional model."

On Kalshi’s regulatory-first approach >

"Our approach has always been… legal and regulate first, always do it within the bounds and expand the bounds. So we did this prediction market, then elections… I mean, people saying this is going to destroy democracy, right? It was the end of the world if we ever got legalized… and then we got legalized…

So, when it comes to sports, on the legal piece, it is legal. The CFTC could stop it if they wanted to, but the states can't, that's federal preemption and that's how it works. And we're on extremely strong legal footing."

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