Prediction Markets Are Targeting US College Students Now

According to reporting from The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and other outlets, companies behind prediction market apps are promoting them directly to students through campus influencers, promo events, and referral campaigns aimed at getting students to open accounts and start trading contracts on real-world outcomes.

What These Platforms Do

Platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi let users trade contracts tied to real-world events. A market might ask whether a political candidate will win an election, whether a company launches a product by a certain date, or whether a certain country gets bombed by a president, as we saw last February.

Contracts usually trade between 0 and 1 dollar and the price reflects the market’s current odds. If the event happens, the contract pays out one dollar. If it does not, the contract expires worthless. In other words, money gone.

Campus Marketing

Recent reporting says these platforms are trying to build user bases through U.S. college networks. The strategy includes paid campus influencers on TikTok and Instagram, promotional events with sign-up bonuses, and referral campaigns that offer around 10 to 50 dollars in trading credit for bringing friends onto the platform.

For companies trying to grow user numbers, campuses are a fast way to do it. One student promoter can bring in dozens of new accounts in a weekend, especially when trading becomes a social activity inside group chats or dorms.

Regulation Is Still Catching Up

Prediction markets sit in a strange regulatory space in the United States. Kalshi operates as a regulated exchange under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, while Polymarket runs as a crypto-based platform offshore and technically blocks U.S. users.

Regulators and lawmakers are still debating where these apps belong. They're framed as forecasting tools that aggregate public information, but it's just sports betting with different terminology.

Why Students

College campuses offer something these companies want. Large groups of digitally native users who are already comfortable with trading apps, crypto wallets, and sports betting platforms.

Most of this activity is being reported on U.S. campuses for now. Interest in prediction markets has been growing since the 2024 U.S. election cycle, when trading volumes surged and platforms like Polymarket processed billions of dollars in election-related contracts.