Las Vegas —
It’s been a rough summer on the Strip.
In addition to sizzling 115-degree days, Las Vegas’ famous resorts and casinos are plodding through a tourism slump. This year, a new and possibly existential threat has emerged: the meteoric rise of prediction markets.
Prediction platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket – where users wager on sports, politics, culture, and the weather – have transformed from a niche space for superfans to a seemingly ubiquitous multibillion-dollar industry.
With the Trump administration’s blessing, these startups are structured as financial markets for trading, not casinos or sportsbooks for gambling.
