During the pandemic, Thomas thought he would give DraftKings and FanDuel a try.Before long, he formed a habit."I could have ten drinks one night and then be fine with not drinking again for a year," said Thomas, 35, who asked to be identified by his middle name fearing his problem gambling history could affect his career.
"But sports gambling was different.It really got me."He never cared much for sports.
Yet betting on games seemed like an easy way to make a buck.He started placing wagers on football and tennis mostly using parlays, which are difficult-to-win bets that require multiple things happening in one game in order to land an enticing payout.Working from his home in Pennsylvania in the financial services industry, Thomas says there were few moments when he didn't have one eye on placing a bet as he juggled work emails and meetings.When his paycheck arrived, he'd quickly squander it all trying to dig himself out of a gambling hole, only to find himself even deeper in.This cycle continued for years, with Thomas racking up around $75,000 in debt from credit cards and personal loans.
He ended up more than $50,000 in the red from online sportsbooks.He filed for bankruptcy in late 2023, federal court records show, and he was able to settle with most of his creditors.He banned himself from DraftKings and FanDuel, known as "self exclusion" in industry parlance.
It was a new start.He was debt-free and swore off gambling."Then one day, about two years later, I'm scrolling on Instagram and I came across an ad for Kalshi," said Thomas.
"I was bored and thought this could be fun, and it ended up turning into something that wasn't fun at all."Thomas saw an ad offering a $20 cash bonus for the first $10 spent on the prediction market app.He said that's all it took to get hooked."Betting $10 became a couple hundred, and that became a couple hundred more, then thousands more," Thomas said.
"And before long I was more than $25,000 in the red."Dani Lever, a Kalshi spoke...