Kalshi Strengthens Age Verification to Block Minors from Prediction Markets, Resists Broader Restrictions

Kalshi is implementing new safeguards to prevent minors from trading on its prediction market platform, though it is pushing back against proposals to block users aged 18-20.

Prediction markets have seen a surge in popularity as platforms where users can wager money on sports, politics, and current events. However, they are increasingly drawing scrutiny over their role in expanding America’s gambling culture.

Key Measures to Prevent Minor Access

According to Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour, the company is taking several steps to ensure minors cannot trade on its platform, even though they are already prohibited. These measures include:

• Facial recognition technology: Required for all users when opening the app, making it harder for minors to use family accounts to bypass restrictions.
• Selfie verification: Requested from users deemed higher-risk for problematic trading behaviors.
• Two-factor authentication: Mandated to enhance account security.
• Login monitoring tool: Alerts users if someone else attempts to access their account.

Company’s Stance on Protective Measures

"We're essentially proactively doing that before we're required to do them because we think a lot of these measures are the right thing to do. The goal for Kalshi here is we want to set a … new state-of-the-art benchmark when it comes to customer protection."

Tarek Mansour, CEO of Kalshi

Growing Concerns Over Youth Gambling

Recent data highlights the risks of gambling among young people, particularly boys and young men. A July study by Common Sense Media found that 36% of boys aged 11-17 reported gambling in the past year, including 49% of 17-year-old boys.

Jonathan Cohen, policy lead at the American Institute for Boys and Men, emphasized the disproportionate impact on younger men:

"The harms of sports gambling are disproportionately concentrated among younger men, and so the prediction markets are clearly the new frontier in this conversation about sports gambling."

Data source: Common Sense Media survey of 1,017 boys aged 11-17. Chart by Nathan Bomey/Axios.

Industry and Regulatory Pressure

Kalshi has faced calls to implement stricter age restrictions, including from lawmakers and major sports leagues. On Thursday, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.) introduced the Prediction Market Act of 2026, which would mandate age verification and self-exclusion programs.

The NBA and PGA Tour recently urged prediction markets to raise the trading age to 21 to align with most U.S. sportsbooks and casinos. In a letter to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the NBA stated:

"Like sports betting, trading in sports prediction contracts carries material risks (e.g., of financial loss) that may be particularly acute for younger individuals."

Dan Spillane, NBA Executive Vice President

Dustin Gouker, a sports gambling analyst, noted in his newsletter The Closing Line that while prediction markets are unlikely to disappear, higher age limits are a reasonable proposal to address concerns.

Kalshi’s Opposition to Raising the Minimum Age

Despite mounting pressure, Mansour has argued that prediction market trading should not be classified as gambling, citing the peer-to-peer nature of transactions rather than betting against a house.