A Pennsylvania college student must wait until they are 21 to place a wager at a state-licensed sports book. But prediction-market platform Kalshi allows people to open accounts at 18 years old, offering a way for young people banned from sports betting to put money on the outcome of a game.
For clinicians treating gambling problems, the difference in how those products are described can matter as much as the difference in age requirements.
Dr. Cynthia Grant, a licensed clinical social worker and vice president of clinical at Birches Health, said she has worked with people who committed to stopping their sports betting or online gaming, then switched to prediction markets because they understood those products as something different.
