Betting, But Make It Feminist
Historically, men have been much more likely to participate in sports betting and prediction markets. And from a business perspective, you can probably see where this is going: that's a whole lot of potential customers left on the table. So how do you convince more women to start betting?
Apparently, you give them Taylor Swift, matcha, The Bachelorette, female influencers, and...insert eye roll...“girl math.”
Betting, But Make It Girly
Earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal reported on prediction-market platform Kalshi's efforts to attract more women. And those efforts appear to be working. According to Kalshi, women now make up 26% of its users, up from just 13% ten months earlier.
The company has paid female influencers to post about prediction markets, featured young women in its advertising, solicited feedback from female customers, and even planned a Bachelorette watch party. And then there are the actual bets.
You don't need to know who is favored to win the Super Bowl. You can bet on Survivor, the Oscars, pop music, or whether Taylor Swift will say the word “ring” during a television appearance. One 23-year-old influencer featured in the Wall Street Journal article won $50 betting that Swift wouldn't say it.
The message seems pretty clear: maybe sports betting wasn't for you. But this? This is something you already understand.
Investing, But Make It “Girl Math”
Then I read The Atlantic's coverage of how prediction markets are advertising to women and...oof.
One Kalshi ad used this logic: make $10 predicting something correctly and voilà, your coffee was basically free. Another suggested women could turn the pop culture and news they were already consuming into money for iced coffees. There are matcha memes. There are “girlboss” references. But underneath the somewhat cringeworthy marketing is something I find much more concerning.
These platforms aren't always being presented to women as gambling. They're being presented as a way to be financially savvy.
The Atlantic found that marketing toward women often leaned into the idea that prediction markets are more like investing than gambling. Meanwhile, some advertising aimed at men was much more explicit about betting, risk, and the possibility of big payouts. That distinction really stuck with me.
We've Been Telling Women to Invest
For years, financial educators (hi! 👋🏻) have been encouraging women to invest.
And for good reason! Women still face a gender pay gap, are more likely to step away from paid work for unpaid caregiving, and generally live longer than men. Building wealth through long-term investing is incredibly important to financial security.
So I find it particularly troubling to see the language of investing, financial confidence, and women's empowerment being used to sell something fundamentally different.
When you buy a diversified index fund, you’re basically owning tiny portions of hundreds or thousands of actual companies all at once. You're investing in productive assets and giving your money decades to potentially grow.
Betting on whether Taylor Swift says “ring” is...betting on whether Taylor Swift says “ring.” Calling both of those things a “trade” doesn't make them the same. And wrapping gambling in pink packaging and calling it “girl math” certainly doesn't make it feminist. Women absolutely deserve a seat at the financial table.
But equality doesn't mean we need an equal opportunity to lose our money.
Tune in next time for the final part of this series, where we'll talk about how to distinguish investing, speculation, and gambling and how to decide what role, if any, betting has in your financial life.
Sources & Further Reading
