The Texas Medical Association has adopted a policy calling for prediction market apps to be off-limits to people under 21, alongside tighter limits on how the apps can advertise. It says the platforms can produce gambling-like psychological effects in adolescents and young adults, while being easy to access on smartphones.
Texas Medicine reported that physicians in the association approved the new policy, which would align prediction markets with gambling and sports-betting apps. Texas law already bans most gambling, but the state does not regulate prediction market platforms, which are overseen federally by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
The association also wants lawmakers to curb advertising around schools and parks and on social media and gaming platforms that can reach younger users. It is seeking a ban on ads that use celebrities, cartoons or characters from games and shows marketed to children and teenagers.
Prediction market apps let users put money on future events, including sports, elections and entertainment. KXAN identified Kalshi and Polymarket as examples of the platforms at issue, and said the TMA’s recommendations would not change state law on their own, though they could shape future debate at the Texas Capitol.
The group’s warning rests on a view that the legal label does not capture the risk. Lindy McGee, a former chair of TMA’s Committee on Child and Adolescent Health, said prediction markets are not considered gambling by legal definition, although they carry the psychological trappings of gambling. She said the adolescent brain is primed to take risks and that the younger someone starts, the more likely addiction becomes.
McGee also said that, used as they are today, prediction markets are psychologically no different from other forms of gambling. She added that gambling can have devastating effects in adolescents and young adults, including a risk of suicide, and summed up the concern by saying it is like high school children are walking around with Vegas in their pockets.
The policy lands amid wider concern about betting habits among young adults. Michael Sierra-Arévalo of the University of Texas at Austin said sports betting is already common among college students, and in his research sample 45% reported betting on sports in the past year. He said a notable share of those who reported betting were not old enough to do so legally, and that early adulthood is a critical period when risky habits can become long-term patterns.
Texas Medicine also cited studies showing that more than 35% of boys aged 11 to 17 reported having gambled in the past year, while 58% of 18- to 22-year-olds surveyed had engaged in at least one sports-betting activity. The association said young males may be especially likely to develop problem-gambling behaviors and other negative behavioral-health effects.
Saul Malek, who said he began sports betting at 19 after a friend introduced him to a bookie, described early wins that made the habit feel social and manageable before it became harder to control. He said he hid it from his family, and later supported stronger guardrails while warning that raising the age to 21 could not be the only answer.
Katheryn Nin Emery of the Texas Coalition on Problem Gambling said people should watch for warning signs when betting begins to affect work, school or relationships. The lines.com reported that Polymarket has opposed the proposal, while also noting that Kalshi and Polymarket have fought state regulation and argued that the federal commodities regulator should set the rules for prediction markets.
