Betting on Pop Culture

Prediction Markets Bet on Pop Culture to Attract Women

The TL;DR: Betting apps such as Kalshi and Polymarket are actively expanding their marketing to women by tapping into celebrity and pop culture rather than traditional sports betting. This shift has sparked debate on the ethicality of the platforms’ approach to acquiring a new audience at the expense of undisclosed risk.

@heythereitsmaemaei love this years cast #loveisland

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You might associate prediction market platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi with sports betting, but today, those platforms are positioning themselves more like financial markets rather than online casinos. In order to cater to the interests of women and non-traditional gamblers, these apps are adopting the same tactics that more traditional brands have been leveraging for social marketing: hijacking pop culture.

The shift may be working: 2026 has seen a spike in female users on Kalshi, making up 26% of account holders as of this March, up from 13% 10 months prior. Prediction markets based on pop culture can be an easier sell to women than gambling on sports. By framing bets on reality TV and celebrity moments as financial opportunities, prediction markets are advertising gambling as a form of investing without mentioning the associated risk. During Love Island’s most recent season, Kalshi experienced a 106% increase in female user activity. As noted in a recent features on Marie Claire and The Cut, this signals that cultural knowledge has an economic value associated with it.

This new pop-culture approach has strengthened the platforms’ relevancy while also raising ethical red flags. For example, specific ads state that betting is just “girl math” to buy your daily sweet treat. In response, the general sentiment of social media users is that ads targeting women fail to disclose the risk of betting, and it can come off as tone-deaf in a time when economic uncertainty is a real issue impacting many American women.

The takeaway? While tapping into new segments to grow can be advantageous, the strategy will make or break the expansion. By sugarcoating gambling as a form of investing made accessible to women, the approach inadvertently undermined the sophistication that already existed among the audience. Instead of trend or pop culture jacking to reach a new group that’s seen as “low lift,” first consider how the strategy itself should shift to reflect the unique insights and best interests of the given audience.

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