‘The ads got to me’: College-age adults are rushing to prediction market sites. Addiction experts are alarmed | CNN Business

If you or someone you know may have a gambling problem, call the National Problem Gambling Helpline at 1-800-MY-RESET. To find a live Gamblers Anonymous meeting happening now, click here. When Andrew needed money for a flight with friends to Greece this summer, the 18-year-old high school senior turned to prediction markets. With a $500 cash advance from his credit card company, Andrew sat in a Starbucks for more than six hours, trading on live tennis matches on Kalshi. He left with a $2,200 profit. Andrew continued using Kalshi to supplement wages from a part-time job, funding golf with friends and dates with his girlfriend. But after a scare where he nearly lost $1,000 on an NBA game, he deleted the app and swore he’d never return. But he later re-downloaded Kalshi, and the cycle started again. He turned a $1,300 cash advance into $3,000, according to screenshots reviewed by CNN. When he tried to withdraw his winnings at 3 a.m., he got an error message. Unable to get his funds out, he decided to keep betting. And this time, within hours, it was all gone. “I didn’t know what to do. I started spiraling,” Andrew, who asked that he not be identified by his full name, told CNN