The prediction markets experienced an unprecedented surge in trading activity, reaching approximately $6 billion during the first full NFL weekend. This spike was largely fueled by sports and parlay trading, leading multiple platforms to set new records.
On NFL Sunday, FanDuel reported exceptional engagement levels, with bettors benefiting from favorable outcomes on favorites, overs, and touchdown scorers. The trading volume on prediction markets was particularly noteworthy, with $3.12 billion generated across eight exchanges on Sunday alone, closely approaching the previous day's record of $3.17 billion, as reported by Jefferies.
Kalshi emerged as the leading platform, accounting for $4.89 billion in trading volume over the weekend. Jefferies estimated that around $963 million of this volume was linked to NFL activities. DKeX also made significant contributions, generating $137 million overall, with $110 million associated with NFL contracts.
In addition, DKeX set a new daily record, surpassing its previous high by about $84 million. Polymarket contributed an estimated $404 million, which is below its average daily volume of $532 million during the World Cup.
Jefferies further estimated that NFL-related trading brought in approximately $5.7 million in revenue for Kalshi and $1.1 million for DKeX. Other analyses indicated that a substantial portion of the trading volume stemmed from multi-leg contracts, with Aldrin Research estimating the weekend's prediction market volume at least $5.83 billion, 91% of which was related to sports and combo trading.
Kalshi's trading days were the largest in its history, with a combined contract volume of $4.9 billion. The Cowboys vs. Giants game on Sunday Night Football was noted as particularly significant, surpassing any regular-season game from the previous year.
In a separate calculation, InGame reported Kalshi's Sunday volume at $2.43 billion, including $1.48 billion from parlays and $409.9 million from direct football trading. The Dallas Cowboys-New York Giants matchup was the standout market, generating $56.3 million on the winner and $16.3 million on the spread.
It's important to note that prediction market volume differs from sportsbook handle, as it counts both sides of each trade. InGame's analysis estimated Kalshi's taker-side volume on Sunday at $596.7 million, providing a closer, though still imperfect, comparison to sportsbook handle.
Meanwhile, traditional sportsbooks also witnessed significant activity on the first NFL Sunday, with bettors enjoying favorable results. GeoComply recorded 99.8 million geolocation checks from U.S. sportsbook customers, marking a remarkable 176% increase compared to the last Sunday before the NFL season began. Additionally, around 135,700 new accounts were created, surpassing the 81.4 million checks recorded during Super Bowl LX.