Hours before Thursday's World Cup match between Canada and Qatar, Kalshi unveiled a new prediction market in Canada. This follows Wealthsimple's introduction of Wealthsimple Predict on June 18, three months after receiving approval from Canadian regulators to offer event and forecast contract trading. Under the partnership with Kalshi, Wealthsimple users will have access to nearly 4,000 Kalshi-based event contracts via the standalone Wealthsimple Predict app.
In March, the Canadian Investment regulatory Organization (CIRO) authorized Wealthsimple to provide certain event contracts with a settlement period of 30 days or longer. Wealthsimple plans to launch its predictions app this summer. It is the second investment dealer, after Interactive Brokers, to receive regulatory approval from CIRO for prediction markets. However, local regulations prohibit offerings in sports and election contracts.
Kalshi has federal authority from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to offer event contracts in the US and has expanded its reach to users in 140 countries. Brett Huneycutt, co-founder and chief product officer at Wealthsimple, remarked, 'Prediction markets are the fastest-growing segment of global financial markets, letting traders turn an opinion into a position on the factors that shape our world. Until now, Canadians have had limited access; Wealthsimple Predict gives Canadians a clean, well-designed way to access these markets.'
In another highlight, a Polymarket trader suffered a significant loss due to a surprising performance by Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha during Monday’s World Cup match against Spain. Cape Verde, ranked 67th in the world, managed to secure a 0-0 draw against the favored Spanish team. The trader had bet $999,068 on Spain’s victory, which would have yielded a $1.09 million payout, as confirmed by Polymarket.
Despite this loss, other traders on Polymarket experienced notable successes. An anonymous trader named 'fishalive' earned $4.7 million from a $400,000 bet that Spain would not defeat Cape Verde, enjoying pre-match odds of 9%. However, a different user, 'flickraw', risked $2.7 million on the Netherlands to beat Japan on June 14. After a late equalizer from Japan resulted in a 2-2 draw, flickraw lost an additional $1.5 million on a subsequent bet placed on Belgium to defeat Egypt, which also failed due to an own goal.
Polymarket has partnered with Splash Sports to launch the world’s largest pro football survivor contest later this year, with a guaranteed prize pool of $21 million. This contest will start with the onset of the 2026 NFL regular season and will incorporate Polymarket's event-driven trading as a registered introducing broker with the CFTC.
In related news, Novig announced its CFTC approval to operate as a Designated Contract Market (DCM), although it has yet to release information regarding initial launch states. Novig CEO Jacob Fortinsky stated, 'Novig is the first sports prediction market built by sports traders for sports traders. The momentum we’ve seen to date reinforces that there is real demand for a more efficient way for sports fans to participate in sports markets.'
