Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
LA therapists are seeing more young patients with gambling problems. They blame Kalshi [View all]
https://laist.com/news/health/la-therapists-are-seeing-more-young-patients-with-gambling-problems-they-blame-kalshiMaya 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.
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,
7 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read