A national anti-commercial gambling organization called on the US Tennis Association (USTA) Friday to end its controversial partnership with Kalshi, a legally dubious business that allows people to bet on anything from sports to politics.
Stop Predatory Gambling exposes and advocates against harm caused by the predatory gambling industry. The nonprofit urged USTA CEO Craig Tiley to cut ties with Kalshi in a letter sent September 11.
The bettor gets to keep the value of the contract if it comes true. If it doesn’t, the contract’s value goes to zero and the loser’s money goes to pay the winner.
Read the Daily Citizen’s explainer on prediction markets to learn more about how they work — and why they’re problematic.
“We are calling on the USTA to immediately end its partnership with the prediction market platform Kalshi during the US Open,” the letter reads, continuing:
National media has spotlighted [Kalshi] for blatantly targeting and preying upon young people to lure them into developing a dangerous gambling habit.
USTA made Kalshi the exclusive prediction market of the US Open on August 30 — the day the main tournament began. The deal reportedly gave Kalshi exclusive advertising rights inside tournament stadiums and on TV stations where matches were broadcast.
USTA also integrated gambling into the US Open app, which began sending users push notifications featuring betting odds and other “predictions,” courtesy of Kalshi.
The advertising push seems to have done its job. Kalshi users bet an average of $192 million on tennis every day of the US Open, which concluded on Sunday. Bets placed on tennis exceeded those placed on other sports on all but four days of the tournament, according to TickerTracker.
Stop Predatory Gambling argues young players, not money, should be USTA’s foremost consideration.
“The USTA serves over 100,000 junior players nationwide,” the nonprofit wrote in its letter to CEO Tiley.
“Yet, by embedding prediction markets directly into the U.S. Open ecosystem, the USTA is actively normalizing extreme forms of gambling within the exact youth demographic it is tasked with protecting.”
The letter references a March report from The Wall Street Journal which found Kalshi and its competitor, Polymarket, intentionally target 18- to 20-year-olds — and younger.
At one point, the Journal reported, Kalshi even hired a 15-year-old videogame streamer as an affiliate. It only cut the connection after the company’s lawyers clarified it could not work with minors.
“Kinda sad tbh,” a Kalshi employee messaged the gamer.
Kalshi’s attitude is perhaps best encapsulated in a since removed X post, which read:
College campuses are the best place to spark new financial movements and will play a key role in bringing the next 100M users to prediction markets.
Nigel Eccles, the co-founder and former CEO of the online sportsbook FanDuel fired back, “You can never start those kids too early on sports betting.”
FanDuel is no less predatory than Kalshi. But, unlike prediction markets, sportsbooks must get permission from individual states to operate. Once licensed, companies like FanDuel and DraftKings must submit to state regulations, which usually include:
- Keeping users over 21 years old.
- Giving up some of their revenue to the state.
- Complying with some safety regulations, like flashing a problem gambling hotline during advertisements or providing a way for bettors to exclude themselves from gambling apps.
It also means sportsbooks cannot operate in states that refuse to license them.
Kalshi claims it does not have to seek state permission to operate because futures trading technically falls under federal authority.
While prediction markets, the gambling industry, states and the feds duke it out over whether predictions contracts on topics including the date of Christ’s return constitute “investing,” rather than gambling, Kalshi and Polymarket are busy making online sports betting available to every adult in every state — even those where sports betting is still illegal.
Stop Predatory Gambling notes that some of USTA’s junior players can legally gamble on Kalshi — a distressing prospect given tennis already struggles with corruption.
As “one of the most bettable sports in the world,” per The Athletic, athletes face daily temptation to make money by throwing a single match, a single set, or by sending a single serve into the net.
This year alone, two players and one official have been fined and suspended for fixing matches or failing to cooperate with anti-corruption investigations.
Athletes don’t have to bet themselves to experience the negative effects of online sports betting. Tales abound of gamblers trying to influence matches by yelling abuse at the person they’ve bet against.
A July report on the 2025 season from the Women’s Tennis Association and World Tennis highlighted “the continued and disproportionate impact of abuse linked to gambling activity.”
The report found angry gamblers responsible for 42% of all verified abuse detected during the 2025 season, up 2% increase from 2024, and 59% of all “serious” abuse.
So why would USTA further embed gambling’s negative influence by partnering with Kalshi? Les Bernal, the national director of Stop Predatory Gambling, was frank in a press release announcing the letter.
“National media has spotlighted how Kalshi is blatantly targeting and exploiting the vulnerabilities of young people,” he wrote.
“USTA executives, driven by greed, chose to willfully ignore these facts and be complicit in this misconduct.”
The USTA did not end its partnership with Kalshi prior to the end of the US Open. It is unclear if the association will continue to partner with the prediction market at further tournaments — but there is no indication it will stop.
Additional Articles and Resources
Kalshi, Prediction Markets Make It Easy for Kids to Gamble Online
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