Kalshi, Polymarket Court Women Traders as Love Island Bets Top $20 Million

1 articles · Updated · The Week · Jul 1

$20 million in Kalshi trading poured into “Love Island USA” markets in the first two weeks of the season, highlighting prediction platforms’ push to bring more women into a user base long dominated by men.
Kalshi and Polymarket are using influencer posts and social-media campaigns built around pop-culture fandoms and female-empowerment language, framing celebrity and reality-TV wagers as forecasting or investing rather than gambling.
Kalshi says 26% of its account holders are female, up from 13% 10 months ago, and argues broader participation makes markets more accurate by moving them closer to the “wisdom of crowds” model.
Critics say the same strategy risks widening gambling harm, especially among Gen Z and young millennials, warning that companies are turning women’s financial anxieties into betting contracts as prediction markets spread deeper into daily life.