LA therapists are seeing more young patients with gambling problems. They blame Kalshi

[usonian]

https://laist.com/news/health/la-therapists-are-seeing-more-young-patients-with-gambling-problems-they-blame-kalshi


Maya Mukherjee
Published Jul 13, 2026 5:00 AM
Updated Jul 13, 2026 940 AM

With a week left in the World Cup, fans may have noticed ads with soccer stars telling them they could win tickets to the final using their sports knowledge.

Those ads are for Kalshi, a prediction market that accounts for 90% of the U.S. market share. Right now, $1.1 billion worth of contracts are trading on who will win the World Cup. And it’s not just sports — Kalshi contracts can get as fine-grained as the exact margin of victory between Spencer Pratt and Nithya Raman in the L.A. mayoral primary.

Snip

Sports betting is illegal in California, but prediction markets like Kalshi aren’t. That’s because users buy and sell contracts among themselves, instead of placing bets against a house. The distinction allows platforms to operate under federal rules for financial exchanges, rather than state gambling laws.


Snip

Some L.A. gambling addiction clinicians say that they’re already seeing the consequences of what they call unregulated betting, especially among young people.

Bay area sports talk is carpet-bombed with ads for Kalshi.

Destroying lives, one kid at a time, using loopholes in the law,

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

1. Awful.shut it down

[Stacey Grove]

2. There was a reason for strict gambling laws

in the United States.

The profound harm that gambling can cause as a social ill.

[oasis]

3. It's getting out of control.

[flvegan]

4. The founders are billionaires, so who cares?

I'd be interested in comparing the restrictions on advertising comparing "gambling" or prediction market whatthefucksit contract betting (whatever) is called versus alcohol and smoking. I hardly watch tv, but it seems it's overrun with one idiot celebrity or another hawking some form of "gambling" forum. The ads are almost a "you can't/won't really lose, it's fun!" if you just listen to the blather. I see Hard Rock (?) ads where IIRC they basically say even if you lose on your first bet, we'll give you money back (to bet again). I may be misremembering that a bit, but I do recall hearing that and thinking "oh yeah, what could possibly go wrong here."

[GreatGazoo]

5. American idioms are pervaded by gambling references

You betcha
Card up his sleeve
I wouldn't bet on it
No dice
Bet the farm
Down to the wire
Ace in the hole
Hedge your bets
All bets are off
Upping the ante

So perhaps we are more predisposed to gambling than other cultures.

There is a mental health crisis in the USA that just keeps getting worse. Algorithms and AI use weapons-grade psychological warfare on us daily with the goal of extracting money. Gambling is a game where you beat yourself. Generally no one is forced to gamble (in the gaming sense) but the option to do so is omnipresent and for many, gambling is an addiction.

The dynamics of gambling addiction should be taught and understood in the same ways that we teach kids about nicotine, etc.

[usonian]

6. I once replied to a talk show about booze

An athlete had gotten a mulligan for no less than DUI.

So look at the booze focus in sports. I forgot all the references. Just think

Brewers
Coors Field
John Miller (world's best baseball announcer)

There was a bunch. Maybe some changed names and it was a long time ago.

Many activities are more or less addictive. I read "The Addictive Organization" and others by Anne Wilson Schaef. I am NOT a psychologist but I see parallels in other addictions, including the maga cult.

Our weaknesses are all to easily exploited by these mechanisms.

[GreatGazoo]

7. Baseball sells beer

Long boring games in the sun. So the sponsorship make sense marketing wise.

(Also baseball may be the only sport where players are allowed to openly use drugs during the games, eg.chewing tobacco.)

Yes, rage can be an addiction. Plastic surgery. Many things but gambling is one that affects entire families, especially children, because it destroys net worth and builds generational debt.