Gambling, once only accessible in casinos, has rapidly become more accessible as a new gambling app appears on app stores seemingly every week. In recent years, this trend of growth has been supported with online casinos being promoted more frequently – the so-called “flashing lights” of Vegas are being replaced with the brightness of the modern phone. With top online-casino contenders, such as the sports betting app DraftKings and its competitors, making up over 93% of the ads for TV commercials in 2022, their presence has become unavoidable since. However, these companies are not the only ones to find a slot during sports games, with the recent emergence of a new controversial gambling app showcasing itself during the NBA Finals advertisements – Kalshi.

Kalshi, which publicly launched July 2021, has recently found its way into mainstream media. Considered one of the first “prediction markets,” it allows users to place a bet on practically anything. From the usual sports bet to more unusual markets, the ethics of not only the app, but its production methods, have been called into the court of public opinion.

When it comes to controversy with ethics, one of the most pointed examples is their most recent advertisement that aired during the NBA Finals in June of 2025. The advertisement, which had a reach of nearly 20 million impressions, was entirely AI-generated. Generated by PJ Ace, an AI-director who manages the company Genre.ai, and co-written by ChatGPT, the advertisement cost only $2,000 to produce. The advertisement used the generative AI model Veo 3, which was trained on a large scale of data, but with a specific emphasis on YouTube videos. The creators whose content was fed into the model, and thus used to produce the control cheaply, were unpaid, but Ace, who utilized the model for Kalshi, was. This had become a controversial decision as not only does it promote gambling, but the usage of artificial intelligence at the expense of human actors, storywriters, videographers, and more on YouTube who lost the opportunity to shoot for a major company, yet still had their work referenced without compensation.

Furthermore, the usage of AI in advertising was not the only concern in relation to their NBA Finals advertisement. The content itself was also called a concern as it features various scenes of people in distress, such as a woman screaming during a hurricane and a man recording in front of a car crash. While they are presented in a “GTA-style” and play for humor, it has fallen short for many, instead raising concerns over the company’s ethics.

This is not the only concerning advertisement from Kalshi. Recently, Kalshi has begun sponsoring a “feel-good” influencer Scooter Jones. While the content seems wholesome on its surface as Jones enters establishments and performs acts of kindness, such as tipping Apple products to flight staff, it quickly feels more predatory to the audience as he begins to promote Kalshi. The term gambling is rarely used; instead, referring to the website as a “prediction” market. Many have argued that the blatant branding, occasionally going so far as to wrap the product in Kalshi gift wrap, cheapens the wholesomeness. On the contrary, others point out that the workers still get a high-value product as a tip, even if it comes at the cost of listening to the influencer’s spiel.

Finally, the very basis of Kalshi has been called into question based on its controversial categories in which one can bet. While in their commercials they tend to focus on advertising sports or politics, beneath the surface are crueler bets, such as an estimate on how many will starve in Gaza during the Palestine versus Israel war. These controversial options are something that the brand leans into with several of its recent advertisements featuring their slogan – “The world’s gone mad, trade on it.” To many, these have been viewed as cruel and as betting on other people’s suffering for a profit.

In this modern age, gambling seems nearly impossible to avoid. From sports teams to news channels, it can feel to the average consumer that everyone is encouraging them to gamble their savings in order to live out one of the many great stories they advertise, such as earning back double their rent in a single parlay. However, it is vital that they take a step back and analyze their financial situation. While everything is fine in moderation, it is best that consumers remember one piece of advice, especially when dealing with predatory services – the house always wins.