'Bam, everything's gone': Two young men describe losing thousands on Kalshi and Polymarket

Getty Images; Tyler Le/BI

• Prediction markets have exploded in popularity in recent years.
• Two young men who lost thousands of dollars shared their stories with Business Insider.
• Experts said that the platforms' lack of guardrails increases the potential risk to millions of Americans.

Lorenzo Miro San Diego first learned about Polymarket after seeing the prediction market on an episode of "South Park" last fall.

His first wager: $498 on the University...