Kalshi Launches $1B Contest for Perfect March Madness Bracket

Prediction market platform Kalshi has launched a contest offering a $1 billion prize to anyone who correctly predicts the outcome of every game in the upcoming NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, known as March Madness. The challenge, announced this week, invites participants to submit a perfect bracket for the 64-team single-elimination event, which features 63 games and typically unfolds in March and April across various U.S. venues.

The contest is free to enter and open to most U.S. residents aged 18 and older, though it excludes those in New York and Florida due to state-specific regulations on contests and prediction markets. Participants must create a free account on Kalshi's platform and submit their bracket before the tournament begins. Kalshi, a Chicago-based company regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, described the initiative in a blog post as a way to illustrate the principles of probability. "You probably won't win this contest," the company stated, emphasizing the event's educational aim.

Achieving a perfect bracket has never been verified in the tournament's history, and the odds are extraordinarily low. For a random prediction,...