Stop Predatory Gambling has asked the U.S. Tennis Association to terminate its partnership with Kalshi, arguing that the prediction-market company’s presence at the U.S. Open exposed young players and fans to gambling products.
In a letter dated Sept. 10 and addressed to USTA chief executive Craig Tiley, the nonprofit called for the association to “immediately end” the arrangement during the tournament. Les Bernal, the group’s national director, said the USTA had chosen commercial interests over the welfare of young people.
The appeal centred on the USTA’s youth role. Stop Predatory Gambling said the association serves more than 100,000 junior players nationally and argued that incorporating prediction markets into the tournament environment was “actively normalizing extreme forms of gambling” among the demographic it is meant to protect.
The group’s letter cited a March Wall Street Journal investigation into prediction-market operators’ marketing to younger adults. It pointed to campaigns involving fraternities, student influencers and social-media creators, and said major platforms set their access threshold at 18. The letter argued that some competitors in the U.S. Open Junior Championships were therefore old enough to use the platforms.
The USTA’s multi-year deal made Kalshi the Open’s official prediction-market partner from the 2026 main draw. The partnership provided for promotion through digital platforms and on-court signage, according to Sportcal. The Guardian and The Athletic reported that the tournament’s official app sent Kalshi-branded push alerts offering match predictions shortly after the arrangement was announced.
The USTA told The Athletic that Kalshi’s presence at the tournament was limited. Tiley said the partnership would help tennis pursue a new form of fan engagement while protecting the sport’s integrity.
Kalshi and the USTA said they had put in place an integrity framework that restricted certain markets, including those involving umpire decisions and code violations. Kalshi also secured a confidential data-sharing agreement with the International Tennis Integrity Agency for real-time market surveillance, Sportcal reported.
The intervention comes as betting-related disruption and abuse remain a prominent concern in tennis. The Guardian reported that players had repeatedly raised concerns about disruptive bettors at the U.S. Open, where spectators have sought to influence matches through heckling and taunting. A 2025 study by the Women’s Tennis Association and World Tennis found gamblers accounted for 59% of serious online abuse directed at players.
Trading on tennis outpaced other sports during the first week of the Open, according to TickerTracker data cited by The Athletic. Stop Predatory Gambling argued that real-time odds, sponsorship displays and high-stakes wagering around teenage athletes could damage their long-term physical and mental well-being.
The dispute also reflects a contested regulatory position. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission says prediction markets offer event contracts, often structured as swaps, and that federally regulated platforms can operate in all 50 states. But New York legislators have sued Kalshi, alleging it operated an unlicensed gambling business, while Kalshi has maintained that its exchange model differs fundamentally from traditional sportsbooks.
It follows a separate dispute over Kalshi’s links with problem-gambling groups: as we reported in August, the Nevada Council on Problem Gambling moved to sever ties with the National Council on Problem Gambling over the national body’s Kalshi partnership and concerns about risks to young people.
The USTA did not end the Kalshi partnership before the U.S. Open concluded, according to Daily Citizen. It was unclear whether the association would continue to partner with prediction markets at further tournaments.
