Bryson DeChambeau becomes Kalshi’s first athlete partner

Bryson DeChambeau is giving Kalshi its biggest — and most controversial — co-sign yet.

The LIV Golf star signed on Wednesday as Kalshi’s first-ever athlete partner, lending a mainstream face to a prediction market platform currently facing multiple lawsuits alleging it operates as an unlicensed sports betting platform.

According to Ben Horney of Front Office Sports, the deal includes a television commercial, social media promotion, live appearances, and the creation of Kalshi markets tied to tournaments in which DeChambeau competes. Kalshi declined to disclose the financial terms or length of the agreement.

EXCLUSIVE: Kalshi is signing professional golfer Bryson DeChambeau as its first athlete endorser.

The deal will include a TV commercial, social media posts, live appearances, and the launch of markets on events he plays in.

By @BenHorney ⬇️

— Front Office Sports (@FOS) January 14, 2026

The partnership arrives as Kalshi faces mounting legal and regulatory pressure. A November class-action lawsuit accused the company of misleading consumers while facilitating unlicensed sports betting through subsidiaries that allegedly wager against users. The complaint claimed roughly 90 percent of Kalshi’s September trading volume — about $2 billion — was tied to sports.

State gambling regulators have ordered Kalshi to shut down its sports markets, a directive the company has refused to follow. Kalshi’s resistance has been aided, at least politically, by its ties to President Donald Trump through strategic adviser Donald Trump Jr. Meanwhile, the NFL has submitted testimony to Congress warning about the risks posed by unregulated prediction markets, and NCAA president Charlie Baker publicly blasted Kalshi after it briefly attempted to offer betting markets on the transfer portal before backing down amid widespread backlash.

Kalshi’s marketing hasn’t helped its credibility. The platform partnered with fake sports insiders on X, including a phony Kentucky basketball reporter who posted fabricated Mark Pope quotes before sharing Kalshi charts. Multiple accounts with Kalshi badges posted antisemitic content before the company cut ties following media scrutiny.

DeChambeau’s partnership with Kalshi isn’t a departure so much as a continuation of his career-long habit of stepping into experimental corners of sports business before the rest of the field is comfortable doing so. He has repeatedly aligned himself with platforms that promise to be next, regardless of whether they ultimately deliver.

That approach dates back to 2020, when he became the first active PGA Tour player to sign with DraftKings, a deal that raised eyebrows at the time. It resurfaced again during the early NFT boom, when DeChambeau dipped into digital collectibles through a limited OpenSea release that failed to gain much traction. Most recently, he leaned into cryptocurrency by competing in a made-for-television exhibition with Brooks Koepka that featured a seven-figure purse paid entirely in crypto.

The Kalshi deal follows that trajectory, albeit with considerably more legal baggage than DraftKings carried four years ago.

From Kalshi’s perspective, landing DeChambeau is no small win. Golf has quietly become one of the platform’s strongest verticals. A Kalshi spokesperson told FOS that golf generated $456 million in trading volume last year, calling it a “surprise hit.” The platform already offers markets tied to DeChambeau’s YouTube content, including how many course records he’ll break in 2026, with more DeChambeau-centric markets planned as part of the deal.

When asked whether he would encourage LIV to partner with Kalshi, DeChambeau didn’t hesitate.

“They have to,” he told FOS. “Come on, let’s go.”

Whether LIV — which is already navigating its own legal challenges — has any appetite to attach itself to a platform facing more than a dozen lawsuits remains unclear.