NYC Council Investigates Polymarket and Kalshi Over Marketing to Minors

New York City's Council opened a formal investigation on August 12, 2026, into how prediction market platforms advertise to New Yorkers.

Four companies are named: Polymarket, Kalshi, Coinbase, and Gemini's Titan platform. Speaker Julie Menin is leading the inquiry, and the core question isn't whether these markets are legal. It's whether the way they're marketing crosses a line the city can actually act on.

Prediction markets have exploded in popularity over the past two years, moving from a niche corner of political forecasting into mainstream apps people use to trade on sports, weather, pop culture, and more. That growth is exactly what has drawn the Council's attention.

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The Allegation Is About Young Adults, Not Just Minors

The Council's letter doesn't claim these platforms marketed directly to children. It alleges something narrower and, in some ways, harder to defend against: that the companies "conspired to target young adults, and thus potentially minors, with false, deceptive, and unconscionable advertising." That distinction matters.

The concern isn't a platform running ads during cartoons. It's ad campaigns built around college-aged influencers and social feeds where the audience's actual age is nearly impossible to verify.

Council Member Harvey Epstein, who chairs the Committee on Consumer and Worker Protection, put it plainly: "With the industry aggressively marketing to New Yorkers, we have a responsibility to investigate their claims and advertising tactics."

Part of what makes this investigation possible at all is a regulatory gap. Casinos and licensed sportsbooks operating in New York already answer to strict marketing rules and consumer protections. Prediction markets, structured as financial exchanges rather than gambling operators, currently fall outside that framework entirely.

A Wall Street Journal Investigation Set This Off

The situation didn't start with the Council. A Wall Street Journal investigation published in June found that Polymarket had paid dozens of mostly college-aged social media creators to post videos of themselves making trades, then presented those trades as more profitable than they actually were.

The Council's letter goes further, citing allegations of undisclosed paid promotions, staged wins dressed up as organic content, and in some cases, promotion that appeared to encourage insider trading.

Polymarket responded to the WSJ reporting by committing to audit its promotional content going forward, though the Council's investigation suggests city officials aren't satisfied that a self-audit settles the matter.

Influencer marketing built around unlabeled sponsored content sits in a particularly murky legal space, since federal disclosure rules already require paid promotions to be clearly marked, whether the product being sold is a supplement, a stock tip, or a prediction market contract.

What The Council Is Asking For, and By When

Each of the four companies has 14 days to hand over marketing and user data going back to January 1, 2025. That includes how many New York-based users each platform has, demographic breakdowns by age, and figures on how much money users have earned or lost.

Menin has said the goal is figuring out "whether more legislation, enforcement and education are necessary to combat abusive marketing in New York City."

Public hearings are expected to follow once the Council reviews the findings. Notably, the investigation focuses on advertising and promotional conduct, not a legal challenge to prediction markets themselves.

The timing isn't an accident either. NFL season and the 2026 midterm elections are two of the biggest trading periods prediction markets see all year, and both are approaching fast.

The Companies Are Responding Differently

Polymarket has taken the most conciliatory tone so far, telling reporters it "looks forward to engaging with the New York City Council on this matter."

Coinbase, which offers prediction market access through its platform, pointed to its existing federal oversight, saying it "offers our customers access to federally regulated prediction markets overseen by the CFTC, and fully complies with applicable laws."

Kalshi and Gemini's Titan platform hadn't responded to requests for comment as of the Council's announcement. Whether that changes once the 14-day data deadline arrives remains to be seen.

Why This Investigation Matters Beyond New York

Prediction markets have grown fast enough that state and federal regulators are still working out exactly how to categorize them, let alone how to police their marketing. New York is one of the largest media and financial markets in the country, and a city-level investigation here tends to draw attention well beyond the five boroughs.

If Menin's office does move toward new legislation, it would give other cities and states a template for regulating how these platforms advertise, even in places where the underlying legality of prediction markets isn't in question at all.

For a broader look at where these platforms operate and how they compare, our list of prediction markets covers the major brands active in the US right now.

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