Prediction Markets – Family Council

A Parent’s Guide To Betting Apps

Oct 8, 2026Jerry CoxGamblingGambling, Prediction Markets, Sports Betting

The organization Axis has written a guide to help parents understand and address betting apps with their kids.

Axis provides videos and resources for parents to have gospel-centered conversations with their children about faith and culture. One recent video helps parents understand how sportsbook apps turn sports fans into gamblers and why young men are especially vulnerable.

In its parents’ guide to betting apps, Axis writes:

Like many parents, Kim Freudenberg knew that raising two boys would come with tough discussions. She would need to talk to them about drugs and alcohol. Sex would be an important topic. Clearly, social media would need to be a regular household conversation.

What Freudenberg and many other moms and dads didn’t know when their children were young was that there would be a new tough topic on the scene: betting.

“Never once did I even think that I needed to say ‘gambling,’” Freudenberg told NPR.

But as it turned out, her 19-year-old son had been gambling for eight years. She had no idea until he’d been doing this until he dropped out of college and the truth came to light. She discovered that her son had sold household items, borrowed money from friends, and at the height of his debt desperation, stolen money from her.

This all began when Freudenberg’s son clicked on a link he saw in the comments of a video game livestream he was watching. The link took him to an offshore online casino where he began to play blackjack, poker, and roulette. He was 11 years old—seven to ten years younger than the legal gambling age for every state in the U.S..

The guide from Axis goes on to highlight how sports betting apps may particularly appeal to teens.

Nationwide, sports betting is legal in 39 states — including Arkansas, where people wagered $56.6 million on sports in August alone. But a growing body of evidence shows this type of gambling is harmful.

Studies show people who gamble on sports may be twice as likely to suffer from gambling problems. When sports gambling happens online, the rate is even higher. A 2025 survey found one in four sports bettors worry that they cannot control their gambling.

Problem gambling may contribute to other serious problems. Some studies have linked legal sports betting to increases in divorce, binge drinking, domestic violence, and violent crime.

Twenty-year-old males account for approximately 40% of calls to gambling addiction hotlines, and upwards of 20 million men are in debt or have been in debt as a result of sports betting.

Sportsbooks and online gambling platforms have been accused to using deceptive videos, predatory ads, and artificial intelligence to target people who may be at risk of gambling problems.

Sports betting is not a harmless pastime. As powerful corporations try to make gambling part of everyday life, it’s important for Arkansas to protect citizens and families from predatory gambling. Otherwise, problem gambling will simply hurt more and more people in our state.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

“Prediction Market” Gambling Platforms Finally Face Scrutiny in Court

Sep 23, 2026Jerry CoxGamblingGambling, Prediction Markets, Sports Betting

“Prediction market” gambling platforms have suffered a series of blows in court over the past few weeks.

Prediction markets are companies that exploit loopholes in federal law to bring casino-style gambling to anyone with a smartphone. While traditional gambling operates under state oversight and state law, prediction market platforms claim protection under federal commodities laws.

But instead of letting people invest in futures for gold or crude oil, companies like Kalshi and Polymarket let people “invest” in the future outcome of a ballgame, tomorrow’s weather, foreign policy, and so on.

But calling it an “investment” does not change reality. When prediction market platforms let users “trade” hundreds of millions of dollars on who will win the Super Bowl, that’s gambling. But unlike other forms of gambling, prediction markets are not accountable to state gambling laws.

However, prediction markets seem to be facing more scrutiny in court.

Earlier this summer Kentucky’s attorney general announced lawsuits against Kalshi and Polymarket for “bypassing” consumer protections and tax requirements in the state’s gambling laws.

Last month, the City of Baltimore sued Kalshi and Polymarket for violating consumer protection laws “by operating illegal, unlicensed sports-betting platforms and misleading consumers about the legality and regulatory status of their products.”

The State of Connecticut has also sued Kalshi for conducting unlicensed internet gambling in violation of state law.

In August a three-judge panel from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that federal law does not prevent states from regulating prediction markets like Kalshi.

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin joined an amicus brief in that case against Kalshi. Griffin previously issued an opinion that Kalshi’s operation likely violates Arkansas law.

Earlier this month, a federal judge in Iowa rejected Kalshi’s request for a preliminary injunction to block Iowa from regulating Kalshi under state gambling laws. Like the 9th Circuit, the judge said federal law likely does not prevent the State of Iowa from regulating prediction markets.

We have written before about how prediction markets are particularly troubling. Up until now, they have operated without state oversight. In particular, sports betting is big business on prediction market platforms. This type of gambling is out of control. It’s ruining lives and corrupting sports.

It’s good to see our federal courts finally taking steps to let states restrict this type of predatory gambling.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

Arkansans On Track to Wager Almost $1 Billion on Sports This Year

Sep 7, 2026Jerry CoxGamblingGambling, Prediction Markets, Sports Betting

An analysis from Family Council shows Arkansans could wager almost a billion dollars on sports betting this year.

The figure does not take into account “prediction market” wagers on sports or illegal sports betting.

Nationwide, sports betting is legal in 39 states — including Arkansas — but a growing body of evidence shows this type of gambling is causing serious financial harm.

Last week, Family Council reported that data from the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration shows that from January 1 through July 31, sports bets totaled more than $529 million — an average of roughly $2.5 million per day.

At that rate, Arkansas is on track to wager as much as $912.5 million on sports by the end of December. Even if that daily average were cut in half this fall, Arkansas’ sports betting for the year would still top $700 million.

That estimate does not include “prediction markets” that exploit loopholes in federal law to bring casino-style gambling to anyone with a smartphone. We have written before about how the companies running “prediction markets” claim they just let people “invest” in the future outcome of a ballgame. But calling it an “investment” does not change what it is: It’s gambling.

Studies show people who gamble on sports may be twice as likely to suffer from gambling problems. When sports gambling happens online, the rate is even higher.

More than half of men ages 18-49 now have an active sportsbook account online, and the Institute for Family Studies (IFS) reports almost one in four young men say they gamble daily.

A study by Northwestern University found that for every dollar spent on sports betting, household investment falls by an average of $2.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the Ethics and Public Policy Center, researchers at UCLA, and bankruptcy attorneys across the country all say sports betting is driving a wave of financial problems like credit card delinquencies and bankruptcies.

Sports betting is out of control. It’s corrupting sports, and it’s ruining lives.

Can Arkansas really afford to wager a billion dollars on sports every year?

As powerful corporations try to make gambling part of everyday life, it’s important for Arkansas to protect its citizens and families from predatory gambling. Otherwise, gambling addiction will simply continue wrecking lives and hurting families in our state.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.