When I lived there online poker and day trading was the extent that what seemed like a smallish fraction of the population was into. Though a lot of people watched poker.
Now it seems like there is a whole generation of people betting on everything from football to heads of state getting removed from office.
Also, my understanding is throwing sporting event is normalized. I saw a football highlight where a receiver basically ran out of bounds when he could have easily scored. It looked sketchy asf.
As for Kalshi, if it’s not gambling what is it. I’m not buying the derivative framing. There is frequently no underlying asset to own and no way to apply mosaic theory. So it’s gambling in my book. I don’t feel sorry for Kalshi’s founders for the Utah AG throwing the book at them.