The Southern Line
Novig vs Kalshi for college football: fees, markets and what $100 returns
Both are CFTC-regulated prediction markets with SEC game markets. The differences are the fee, the markets offered and how the price is quoted.
Novig and Kalshi are the two prediction markets most SEC fans will actually compare, because both list every FBS game and both are available in the no-sportsbook states. They differ in three ways that change what a position is worth.
1. The fee
Kalshi charges a taker fee on each fill. The published formula is about 7% of the contract count times price times one minus price. On a 50-cent contract that is 1.75 cents per contract, the most it can be. On an 85-cent favorite it falls to under a cent.
Novig charges no fee on the trade and no vig in the price. Its revenue comes from elsewhere in the product, not from a cut of each position.
For a $100 position the fee difference on a coin flip is around $3.40 of profit. On a heavy favorite it is under a dollar. Our board reports the Kalshi fee in dollars on every game so you do not have to compute it.
2. The markets
Kalshi's college football game series covers the winner of each game, with separate series for spreads, totals and some quarter markets. Novig lists the moneyline, spread and total on the same event page, with the same trade flow for each.
In practice that means on the board here Novig has three main markets priced on every SEC game, and Kalshi appears in the moneyline comparison.
3. How the price reads
Kalshi quotes in cents: a contract at 61 cents pays $1. Novig also runs on contracts but displays its prices in a way sports fans recognize. On this site every venue is translated into the same two columns, the American-odds equivalent and the profit on $100, so the comparison is apples to apples whatever notation the venue prefers.
Where each is available
Both are CFTC-regulated and operate nationwide, with a handful of state exceptions. Novig is unavailable in Arizona, Michigan and Nevada. Several states, New York among them, are in litigation with prediction markets over whether federal law preempts state gambling law; none of those is an SEC state. See the state pages for the current status where you live.
The honest summary
On a game where both have the same price, Novig returns more because there is no fee. Where Kalshi's order book is deeper, its price can be a cent or two better and more than cover the fee. The board shows the result either way. Pick the venue that pays more on the side you want, and know why.
