Sports betting apps are everywhere. Open up YouTube, scroll on social media long enough, or listen to a podcast. It won’t be long until you encounter an ad promoting apps like DraftKings. Gambling has become part of daily entertainment.
Now Los Angeles-based company Cheddr wants to take it a step further.
Backed by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Cheddr wants to become the “TikTok of sports betting.” The app will have a swipe-based interface. Users can swipe through hundreds of bets per game, from player props to live in-game outcomes, placing wagers in seconds.
The Psychology Behind the Swipe
The Cheddr app borrows directly from the design language of TikTok and Tinder. Simple swipes, rapid decisions, and endless feeds. That might seem like a smart UI, but it’s actually behavioral conditioning.
Social media apps keep users hooked through variable rewards. Unpredictable dopamine hits make each swipe feel satisfying. Gambling uses the same principle. When you combine them, you get a loop that’s far more powerful than either alone. An reward system that never stops refreshing. In this sense, Cheddr is an algorithmic slot machine.
How Dual-Currency Sweepstakes Work
Cheddr uses a dual-currency model common to sweepstakes gambling platforms. Users purchase or earn “coins,” which can then be used to enter games or bets. The company issues two types of currency: one “play” currency that holds no real-world value, and another (in Cheddr’s case, “Cheddr Cash”) that can be redeemed for prizes or cashouts.
This structure allows companies to argue that users aren’t technically gambling. They’re participating in a promotional sweepstakes. Players still spend real money to get more virtual tokens, which are then used to wager again.
The system also obscures the true cost of betting. When money becomes points, the losses feel abstract. It’s a psychological distance that encourages higher spending and riskier behavior. It’s a design choice meant to keep users in the loop.
App-Based Addiction, by Design
Cheddr’s most insidious feature isn’t its currency system. It’s how the app keeps users coming back. Psychologists call it intermittent reinforcement. It’s the same mechanism that drives social media addiction.
Every swipe or bet creates a small burst of anticipation. Maybe you win, maybe you don’t. Either way, your brain learns that the next swipe might be rewarding. That uncertainty is the hook. It’s why people refresh TikTok or check notifications hundreds of times a day. It’s why gambling addiction develops so easily in digital spaces. Cheddr takes the social-media dopamine rush and attaches real money to it.
Cheddr’s Target Audience
Cheddr markets itself as more accessible than major sports betting apps. The company claims that it’ll operate legally in over 40 states. It’s also targeting users under 21, a demographic already prone to compulsive use of social platforms.
Younger users have weaker impulse control, higher susceptibility to reward loops, and less experience managing financial risk. Early exposure to gambling increases the lifetime risk of addiction. Cheddr’s social-media style design only accelerates that process.
California Draws the Line
Cheddr’s home state might shut it down before it starts. In October 2025, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 831, which bans all sweepstakes gambling platforms starting January 1, 2026.
The law outlaws online sweepstakes casinos and sportsbooks that use virtual currencies, exactly how Cheddr operates. That puts the startup in conflict with the legislation, alongside brands like Stake, Fliff, and Chumba Casino. So we’ll see if Cheddr will even launch or if it will change or remove some features just to operate in their own state.
Cheddr represents everything reckless about modern tech. It’s psychological manipulation, with a total disregard for long-term harm. It turns betting into content, addiction as engagement, and compulsion as strategy. If social media already trained a generation to chase attention, Cheddr could train them to chase losses.
