• Kalshi and Polymarket catapulted to the most downloaded free apps in the Apple App Store on Tuesday.
• Kalshi is the betting market open to US citizens while Polymarket is used by international gamblers.
• Kalshi and Polymarket show that Trump favored winning the Electoral College, while Harris was expected to win the popular vote.

Kalshi and Polymarket zoomed to the top of the Apple App Store on Tuesday, amid a surge in election betting in the waning days of the 2024 US presidential campaign.

Kalshi, which is governed by the CFTC and legal for US citizens, ranked number one, while Polymarket, which is only available to international gamblers, ranked number two on Apple’s list of best free apps.

The two gambling apps surpassed the free downloads of popular smartphone apps such as ChatGPT, TikTok and Instagram.

Kalshi’s rise in the Apple App Store rankings represented a major goal achieved for the company’s CEO Tarek Mansour.

“I think on Election Day we’re aiming for No. 1 in the entire App Store, so the demand curve is really exponential,” Mansour told CNBC last month.

More than $4 billion in bets have been placed on Polymarket on various contracts related to the outcome of the U.S. presidential election, compared with more than $500 million for Kalshi, according to data from both websites as of Tuesday afternoon.

Polymarket has had a significant lead over Kalshi this election cycle, as it wasn’t until early October that a federal judge allowed Kalshi to launch election-related gambling contracts for U.S. citizens.

At 3:11 PM ET, Kalshi and Polymarket betting odds favor former President Donald Trump to win the Electoral College by 57% to 43% and 62% to 38%, respectively, and Vice President Kamala Harris to win the popular vote winning at age 76. % to 24% and 72% to 28%.

Meanwhile, the polls remain much tighter. The newest poll average of 538 Harris leads 48% compared to 46.8% for Trump.