Many adults already bet on what team is making it to the playoffs, but fewer bet on the number of deportations in president Trump’s first year of his second term.

Along with sports betting, a new idea of prediction markets is on the rise. Websites, such as Kalshi, offer a place for adults to bet on real-world events along with the usual sports betting, such as politics, culture, economics and more.

Some examples of betting opportunities on Kalshi, are the next presidential election, the artist with the most listeners at the end of the month, and what Mr. Beast will say during his next Youtube video.

In this year’s Golden Globes awards, Polymarket, another prediction market company, was advertised. Reported by INC, this advertisement received backlash and led the CEO to speak out.

“By pairing cultural debate with market-based probabilities,” Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan said according to Deadline, “we’re giving fans a new, more interactive way to follow the show as it unfolds.”

Even in high schoolers, gambling has become a topic that has become relevant, and something that students can form their own opinions on.

“Ethically, with any company that sort of enables people to gamble,” junior Thomas Oberman says, “there’s obviously concern of potential addiction…I think gambling has become a lot more popular on social media over the last year or two, in a comedic sense as well as just like a lot of people do it.”

People have noticed that gambling, especially online betting, has become a lot more forward in recent years. According to Pinkston, Americans have gambled over $500 billion since 2018.

Since sports betting has been something common that has been brought up in day-to-day life, betting on more “serious” topics is something new for people to form opinions on.“I feel like the nature of like gambling on like whether or not it’s going to rain in California tomorrow,” Oberman says, “versus, like a Washington Capitals hockey game, it’s entirely different.”

With the prediction market growing, and ads on these markets, like Kalshi, being featured during things like football championships, the topic will continue to grow and change as people speak up about it and form opinions on how this can impact the future of online gambling and AI.