Kalshi and Polymarket, the world’s most popular prediction market operators, got a gift from South Park on Wednesday night: an episode devoted to their bet-on-everything product that specifically name drops their brands.
Even though some of the jokes cut deep, referencing criticisms of their business models, CEOs of Kalshi and Polymarket both publicly embraced the episode as a win.
“Prediction markets have officially entered the mainstream,” Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour posted on X about the episode. He later changed his profile image on X to one that artistically imagines him as a South Park character.
Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan reposted multiple X screenshots of his company being referenced by South Park and wrote, “as a kid who used to spend all night on south park studios this is surreal.”
In Wednesday’s prediction market themed episode, South Park writers prod Kalshi and Polymarket for exploiting a “legal loophole around normal gambling laws” and reference to the perception that the companies have gained influence over federal regulators. The episode features Donald Trump Jr., an advisor to both companies, as the head of the CFTC. South Park also delivers jokes suggesting the apps are susceptible to price manipulation and have insufficient know-your-customer protocols.
South Park, which airs on Comedy Central and Paramount+, is having banner year for ratings; the animation series seeing a viewership spike amid an ongoing feud with President Donald Trump, whose administration has criticized the mockery he is getting in season 27. There was added interest in the show Wednesday night after South Park made the unusual decision to nix last week’s episode at the last minute.
It has also been a noteworthy year for prediction markets, with Kalshi and Polymarket raising hundreds of millions of dollars this summer. Those successes have led traditional sportsbooks to consider whether to build or host federally regulated exchanges, a model that lets Kalshi and (soon) Polymarket bypass state gambling laws and taxes by operating under the watch of the depleted Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
Criticism isn’t new for the companies, though, as Kalshi is embroiled in litigation with states and tribal groups that could eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court, while Polymarket is readying to return to the U.S. following a multi-year ban and FBI probe.
Kalshi can take solace in South Park referring to it as a “peer to peer” exchange in the opening moments of Wednesday’s episode despite its affiliated trading arm complicating that claim.
For both companies, being mentioned by name on the show seemingly beats being among its snubs, such as never-mentioned Crypto.com, which also offers bets via CFTC oversight.
As has been the case throughout this year, Kalshi and Polymarket on Wednesday night let people bet on whether or not certain words would be mentioned in the South Park episode. Both companies pinned those markets to the top of their homepages.
“Kalshi is part of pop culture,” Alfred Lin, a Sequoia Capital partner and Kalshi investor, wrote on X.
