Is Kalshi Legal in Texas: How To Trade On The Platform
By Drew Ellis
Updated:
Verified by: Kevin Wolff
Available in over 40 states in the US, Kalshi is an available prediction market in Texas.
Regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Kalshi is a financial exchange platform, allowing it to operate in Texas even though online sports betting is not legal in the Lone Star State.
If you’re looking to trade on sports event contracts, or other markets related to business, politics, pop culture, weather, and more, here’s how to use Kalshi in Texas, one of the top prediction market apps available.
Kalshi’s Legal Status in Texas
Kalshi Promo Code for September
If you are in Texas and new to Kalshi, you can take advantage of our exclusive Kalshi promo code DIME to get $25 in bonuses by making $25 in trades.
All you have to do is sign up for an account using one of our available links, then make your first deposit using one of the available options at Kalshi.
Once you make $25 in trades, you will receive $25 in bonus funds to use on the app.
How is Kalshi Legal in Texas: An Explanation
As you are aware, if you are in Texas, online gambling is not legal in the state. So, you might wonder just how Kalshi is available.
As mentioned above, Kalshi is a Designated Contract Market (DCM) that has approval from the CFTC to operate under its regulation. Kalshi is different than online gambling in that it is a financial exchange market. Customers are trading yes/no contracts on topics like sports, politics, economics, and more.
Because this format of market trading is federally regulated, it is held to different legal standards than those of online sportsbooks, or even legal online casinos. Prediction markets carry more of a legal guideline to that of stock exchanges as opposed to sports betting.
With this legal framework in mind, Kalshi is able to operate and provide sports market contracts in states that don’t offer legalized sports betting, including Texas.
How Kalshi Contract Trading Works in Texas
For those wondering how you can bet on Kalshi in Texas, it’s more about trading than betting.
Instead of having odds listed over a particular event or topic, you will have a “contract” listed for a price based on its outcome. That is usually a “Yes” or “No” outcome. Those outcomes come with a price that ranges from $0.01 to $0.99 per contract. The price represents how the current market sees the probability of that outcome.
The contracts with lower prices have a lower probability of happening, while higher prices have a higher probability.
Each correct contract will earn $1; each incorrect contract will receive $0. So, if you purchase a contract for $0.10, that means it has a 10% probability. But if it proves to be correct, you receive a profit of $0.90 per contract you have.
You’re not limited to purchasing just one contract at a time, and there are other trading options to consider that we detail below. But when it comes to the basics of using Kalshi in Texas, this video also helps explain it. The video below helps explain just how Kalshi markets work.
Kalshi Texas Order Types
The basics of prediction markets are as we’ve described above, but there are different variations of “Orders” that you can utilize with Kalshi that expand contract trading in Texas.
Quick Orders
Quick orders are just that: quick and easy. Customers can purchase event contracts for a specific amount at the price available. This is done by selecting the yes or no option for a given market contract, providing the number of contracts they want to purchase, and then Kalshi buys the cheapest contracts available based on the amount requested.
The cost of the purchase can vary, as the size of the order may not have enough contracts available at a given price. Still, Kalshi quick orders will always purchase the order for the cheapest amount possible.
Sell Order
This is the way users sell contracts that they already own using Kalshi Texas. Sell orders will be executed at the best available price, similar to the way a quick order buys at the best available price. Since Kalshi contracts that are correct equal $1 per contract, for any sell orders of a contract that is owned, Kalshi credits $1 to the user’s available funds.
Limit Order
Customers of Kalshi Texas can opt to buy event contracts at a price of their setting or better. Users set up a limit order to purchase a set number of contracts at a set price, and Kalshi will execute the trade when the price becomes available. Should the price never reach what users are asking for, there’s a chance that the limit order will never be executed.
Limit Sell Order
Similar to a limit order, only in reverse. Users can set a price for the contracts that they possess to sell at a specified price, or better. These orders also could go without being executed if the prices never reach what the user requests.
What Markets Kalshi Offers
If you want to know what kind of different trading markets Kalshi has to offer, it’s quite vast. These trading options go well beyond just sports, as they also feature markets on weather, politics, culture, tech, science, and more. Each category and market retains the yes/no outcomes for particular topics and events. Pricing is the same across the board for all Kalshi trading categories.
Sports
Kalshi has all the major sporting events covered, as well as the top athletes for each event. Kalshi will have the top NFL prediction markets, NBA prediction markets, MLB prediction markets, and more. You can trade on games and events, futures markets, and player or game props in all major sports. That includes all the professional sports teams in Texas, like the Dallas Cowboys, Houston Texans, Texas Rangers, Houston Astros, Houston Rockets, and more.
Weather
Kalshi gives customers the option to cash in on weather from around the globe, including in Texas. The yes/no contracts usually pertain to specific weather events, rainfall calculations, temperature highs, and more.
Politics
If you’re into politics, Kalshi provides markets on topics like Supreme Court cases, cabinet appointments, whether a bill will pass, or even election races. Markets can apply to election races for individuals, or focus on the winning party. You can even trade on events that are pretty far down in the future, like who will be the next presidential nominee for the two parties.
Financial Markets
Markets for markets are also available on Kalshi. You can trade on contracts that focus on where financial markets like the Nasdaq, S&P, WTI oil, Treasury daily yields, ODTE, Forex, and more will fare in a given period of time. Financial market options on Kalshi also include company acquisitions, as well as company/product price increases, like Netflix.
Economics
If you follow the rates of specific economic topics, Kalshi Texas will have market options for you. You can trade on topics like economic growth rates, jobs numbers, recession, inflation levels, gas prices, and more.
Culture
If sports aren’t your thing, but you are a savant for pop culture and entertainment, Kalshi is a great way to take advantage of that knowledge. Markets available in Texas include award winners, Rotten Tomatoes scores for newly released movies, outcomes of reality TV competitions, TV viewership numbers, and more.
Tech & Science
There’s an ever-growing number of different tech and science markets that cover topics like the top iPhone app for the year, AI developments, SpaceX launches, and event alien existence. All these and more are tradable topics at Kalshi Texas.
How Kalshi is Different than Sports Betting
With online sports betting illegal in Texas, some are confused as to how Kalshi is able to operate in the state. The big difference is that Kalshi is a trading market platform that is regulated and categorized differently than a traditional legal online sportsbook in the US. Here’s a breakdown of how things differ.
The big difference here is that sportsbooks offer odds for a sporting event or prop, and competition is between the user and the house. Event contract trading provides a market of probability, with users purchasing contracts based on an outcome. Trading is done between other users as opposed to against Kalshi. The online sportsbook makes profit based on losing wagers, while Kalshi makes its revenue through small transaction fees.
Another difference comes with taxes, which is where the legal battles are currently happening with Kalshi and other prediction markets. Legalized online sportsbooks have to contribute a percentage of revenue back to the state, but prediction markets don’t have to contribute anything back because they are federally regulated.
Taxes on revenue for Kalshi would go to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), but the IRS has yet to set up guidelines for these markets. They could eventually fall under the Capital Gains Tax.
Signing Up for Kalshi Texas
How to Sign Up for Kalshi Texas
If you are interested in getting started with Kalshi Texas, it just takes a few simple steps to get signed up and registered.
- Use our exclusive Kalshi links to be taken to the site or app with our exclusive promo code DIME.
- Provide an email address, username, and password for your account to begin the registration process.
- To complete registration, you will have to go through Know Your Customer (KYC) verification since Kalshi is a financial exchange. That means you will need to confirm your identity and location with your legal name, home address, phone number, and the last four digits of your Social Security number.
- Additional verification may be required, such as uploading a copy of a government-issued ID.
- Once signed up, make your first deposit using one of the available banking methods at Kalshi.
- By using our Kalshi promo code DIME, you will receive a $25 bonus once you make your first $25 in contract trades.
That’s all it takes to get started with Kalshi in Texas. Now you can trade contracts on all sorts of different topics, including Texas sports.
Banking Options at Kalshi Texas
Kalshi provides a lot of different options for users when it comes to depositing into their account. There are most of the common fiat payment options you’d see with an online gambling platform, while also offering Crypto options. Users will also earn variable interest (3.95% APY) on their cash and positions on the Kalshi platform.
When it comes to the deposit options, processing times, and fees, here’s what Kalshi provides:
When it comes to withdrawal methods, there are fewer options available through Kalshi compared to deposit options.
It should be noted that deposited funds are initially locked for 7 days before customers are able to withdraw them. Within 90 days of the deposit, users may only withdraw funds to the same account of deposit. After 90 days, users can withdraw to an account they did not deposit from. There is also a withdrawal minimum of $2.
Kalshi Texas FAQs
Kalshi is a prediction market operator that has the ability to provide services around the US under the regulation of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Users buy and sell contracts on the outcome of an event related to sports, politics, culture, and more.
Yes, Kalshi is able to provide its product legally in the state of Texas.
Kalshi has a minimum age requirement of 18 in order to use and trade contracts on its app.
Yes. Use our exclusive Kalshi promo code DIME to get $25 in bonuses after making $25 in trades.
Online sports betting is not legal in Texas. With online sports betting, users make wagers based on odds provided by an operator. With Kalshi, which is legal in Texas, users trade event contracts to try to make a profit based on the outcome of a particular event.
Drew Ellis has decades of experience in media covering sports, gambling and general news. He has provided news coverage for online and retail casino developments across the US and around the globe.
