Gambling ads have become practically inescapable — plastered all over subways, billboards, websites, and TV broadcasts, all in an effort to lure in an audience struggling to make ends meet.
Experts warn of an gambling addiction epidemic, as an alarming proportion of the country admit to having used a sports betting app at least once or placing bets on the outcome of an event on a prediction platform, like Polymarket or Kalshi.
Promotion efforts for the gambling platforms are reaching ridiculous new heights, as Open Measures senior researcher and podcast host Jared Holt found out first hand. A picture he shared on social shows a fortune cookie he’s cracked open — revealing a paper slip advertising Polymarket.
“Yes, we paid for a fortune cookie ad,” Holt’s infuriating “fortune” reads, prompting him to scan a QR code.
“For f***’s sake,” an infuriated Holt wrote.
The image, which was viewed millions of times across Bluesky and X, clearly hit a nerve closely reminiscent of the public backlash to restaurants using AI slop for their menus.
“I’d quite literally never order from this place again,” entertainment writer Ethan Dayton responded.
“We have truly hit rock bottom,” another user added.
“Misfortune cookie,” another quipped.
Plenty of questions surrounding the offending ad remain. We don’t know whether Polymarket itself orchestrated the stunt or if it hired a third party company. Futurism has reached out to the company for clarification.
But, as independent betting news website GamblingHarm points out, it’s not exactly a new idea. For instance, there’s a New York-based agency called OpenFortune that sells wholesale cookies for clients, including BetMGM Sportsbook and a litany of other gambling apps. (The agency doesn’t currently list Polymarket on its website.)
The fortune cookie ad shows the risks of a constant barrage of ads that will be seen by children and people fighting gambling addiction.
Prediction markets’ popularity has skewed the financial incentives behind trying to curb addiction in the United States. The largest nonprofit in the US designed to address gambling addiction recently admitted to having struck a deal to accept donations from Kalshi. And a senator who once actively led a push against the proliferation of prediction markets has now become a lobbyist for Kalshi, demonstrating how efforts to establish clear boundaries for betting app ads continue to be undermined.
Put simply, don’t be surprised if your next fortune cookie is trying to goad you into gambling.
More on gambling: News Organizations Like CBS Embracing Prediction Markets as “Journalism” Is a Deep Moral Disgrace
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