Kalshi is set to give away $50 worth of free groceries per customer at a New York City grocery store Tuesday, in an unusual marketing stunt from the prediction market.
On social media site X, the official Kalshi account wrote: “F it. Free groceries for everyone.” The post received more than one million views within three-and-a-half hours of being posted.
According to an image attached to the post, Kalshi will pay a $50 tab for customers at the 3rd Avenue location of New York grocery chain WestSide Market on Feb. 3 beginning at 12 p.m ET, according to the New York Post. The East Village store is less than a mile away from Kalshi’s headquarters, and the Post reports that it will be rebranded as a Kalshi product during the promotion.
On his own account, Kalshi co-founder Tarek Mansour added: “New York has been good to us. We need to be good to New York.”
Kalshi made a similar post on Instagram, which WestSide Market reposted from its own account.
Both posts were otherwise sparse on details. It is not clear whether there is a limit on the number of $50 grocery vouchers that will be issued.
The Instagram post said “No catch, just show up,” suggesting that the promotion would not be tied to Kalshi account creation or other similar activity.
The marketing stunt comes just days before the Super Bowl, which is likely to set records for trading volume on Kalshi. Kalshi’s current record for volume in a single day, set on the day of the NFC and AFC championship games, is $543 million.
Kalshi will not be allowed to advertise during the game itself, as prediction markets are not NFL partners or approved vendors, per NFL guidelines.
Kalshi continues to fight in court to keep offering sports event contracts in New York, one of seven states where Kalshi is involved in a lawsuit over the legality of the product. Kalshi and the state are currently awaiting the judge’s decision on whether to issue an injunction that would block New York authorities from enforcing a cease-and-desist letter against the prediction market.
