Some people decided to look for love in an unconventional place this Valentine’s Day. More than 200 people boarded BART’s “Valentraine” with the hope of making more than a train connection.
“I thought it would be a fun way to meet other people who also like transit,” said Akash Borde.
“Meet someone to marry on a BART train,” said Madiscon Foreman about her goal at the event.
“I had nothing better going on today,” admitted Christian Montemayor.
It was part of BART’s second annual “Valentraine,” a speed dating event that hopes to help people find love on a different type of dating platform.
Borde decided to give it a try, armed with a list of things to talk about during the ride.
“A bingo card and ice breaker questions to get to know people,” said Borde, flipping through papers he was given when he registered for the event. “And some conversation starters that look very BART themed.”
With that, he was off to get on his train and see if he could meet someone special.
There were four BART cars, each with 50 people. The ride went from the 16th and Mission station down to Millbrae and back.
On the way down to Millbrae, there was organized speed dating, four minutes to chat with the person next to you. At the sound of the bell, the person sitting on the aisle moved to the next seat.
On the way back to 16th street, people were free to mingle with whoever they wanted to talk to.
Borde says he made more connections than he can count.
“Oh yeah. I mean, I set the expectation to meet a couple cool people and I think that’s been exceeded,” said Borde. “Unclear if the dating part will be a success yet, but I feel like that’s a really high bar to clear.”
But there is still a possibility for Borde. Despite it sometimes being loud and a little rocky, he says it was worth taking a ride on the Valentraine.
“It’s a cute event,” said Borde about his experience. “I would recommend it to anyone who wants to meet some cool people, maybe not necessarily find dates. I think it’s a wholesome event with some fun people.”
Can love beat the odds? Prediction markets are taking bets this Valentine’s Day that celebrity relationships can thrive — or break apart. By wagering money, bettors are setting the odds on the amorous relationships of high-profile figures, from Zendaya to Katy Perry.
For example, on Polymarket, an online prediction market, registered users can take a financial position on whether or not American pop star Katy Perry and former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who announced their relationship in December 2025, will be engaged by the end of 2026. As of early February, the probability of the pair committing to wed by then was 27%. To date, more than $22,800 has been wagered on the couple’s fate.
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce on Nov. 6, 2025 in New York City.
Aeon/GC Images/Getty Images
Polymarket users are also betting hundreds of thousands of dollars on aspects of pop-star Taylor Swift and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce’s engagement, including whether or not they’ll be married before June 30, or if the bride will become pregnant before she weds (unlikely, according to bettors).
A similar bet is hosted on a prediction market called Kalshi, where the site puts the probability of Swift and Kelce marrying before Jan. 1, 2027, at 70%, based on customers’ bets.
“In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, who doesn’t want to see two people find each other?” Melinda Roth, a professor at the Washington and Lee University School of Law, who researches prediction markets, told CBS News.
While she doesn’t personally wager money on prediction markets and has no skin in the game, she does have a preferred outcome.
“I’d rather bet on a love contract than a breakup contract,” she said.
Wisdom of the crowd
Polymarket, which operates globally and was forced in 2022 to shut down in the U.S., has since relaunched domestically under regulation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC. Kalshi is similarly regulated by the CFTC in the U.S. and also operates globally.
Experts in prediction markets say that U.S.-based users often access offshore markets on Polymarket, bypassing regulations using virtual private networks, without which Polymarket’s global sites would be off limits.
“Americans still bet on Polymarket’s non-USA platforms, but they have to go through a VPN, or call a friend or a cousin or whatever,” Prof. Roth said.
Other amorous event contracts include:
Will Kylie Cosmetics founder Kylie Jenner and Oscar nominee Timothée Chalamet become engaged this year? Kalshi’s answer: 53% chance
Will Zendaya and Tom Holland get married by December 31? Polymarket’s answer: 49% chance
Will Bill Belichick and Jordon Hudson be married before 2027? Kalshi’s answer: 27% chance
An expired market even let the public bet on whether or not Caroline Ellison, the former girlfriend of disgraced crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried, would have a new boyfriend by the end of 2025.
Such sites rely on the “wisdom of the crowd” theory, which holds that a large, diverse group of people has superior judgment to that of a single individual. Users’ bets determine a market’s odds, which shift in real time and indicate the likelihood of each outcome.
In an interview with CBS News’ “60 Minutes” late last year, Polymarket founder and CEO Shayne Coplan characterized the platform as “the most accurate thing we have as mankind right now, until someone else creates some sort of a super crystal ball.”
Roth said there is at least some truth to Coplan’s assertion.
“One way prediction markets work really well is because people do have knowledge, and they put their money where their mouth is,” she said.
Odds of effective regulation are low
Critics of prediction markets say they allow insider trading, the illegal practice of trading a company’s stock based on nonpublic material, to fester, putting regular speculators at a significant disadvantage.
“People are using inside information to profit at the expense of people on the other side who don’t have that information,” said Ben Schiffrin, director of securities policy for Better Markets, a nonpartisan advocacy group focused on financial reform.
Kalshi prohibits anyone with material non-public information on a contract from betting on it.
As far as playing the odds on romance goes, even those who warn about the sites’ potential pitfalls encourage consumers to be optimistic about love, as long as they are aware of the betting stakes.
Rajiv Seth, a professor of economics at Barnard College, characterized betting on love as a relatively “harmless” pastime, “as long as people are aware that they may be trading against insiders, or people with better info than them.”
Roth also distinguished between trading on inside information and what she characterized as “superior knowledge.”
“Someone who knows that Justin Trudeau bought a ring would have a leg up on other bettors,” she told CBS News. “They are not using any skill or creating superior knowledge for themselves. They are taking material, nonpublic information and capitalizing on it.”
A screenshot from online prediction market Kalshi shows a bet placed on the odds of Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau getting engaged.
CBS News
By contrast, a loyal Swift fan who has read everything under the sun written about and by the artist, “might be able to put two and two together,” to make an informed guess about her wedding date, she said.
Coplan, Polymarket’s founder, doesn’t take issue with the allegation and says it’s actually a feature of the platform, rather than a liability, saying, “it’s sort of an inevitability that this will happen, and there’s a lot of benefits from it.”
Skeptics also say such markets increase access to, and encourage, gambling.
“They allow betting on pretty much anything, including celebrity relationships, and that opens up a whole other avenue to get consumers into gambling,” Schiffrin said.
Michael Selig, chairman of the CFTC, addressed prediction market regulation in recent comments, saying that while he wants the markets to flourish, he is directing the agency to draft rules governing so-called event contracts.
“For too long, the CFTC’s existing framework has proven difficult to apply and has failed our market participants. That is something I intend to fix by establishing clear standards for event contracts that provide certainty to market participants,” he said in prepared remarks at a joint CFTC and Securities and Exchange Commission event on Jan. 29.
Particularly when it comes to a matter as fickle as love, prediction markets face another challenge: connecting outcomes back to reality. That’s why they make the rules clear. For example, speculation about Chalamet and Jenner’s status would not suffice as evidence of an engagement. An official representative, or the couple, would have to make a public announcement stating their intention to marry.
“We’re engaged,” or “I said yes,” announcements would suffice for bettors who wagered money on the couple living happily ever after to cash in, according to Kalshi. But unconfirmed rumors would not.
New Yorker Shardil Ahmad always imagined meeting his future girlfriend at a coffee shop: he’d spot her thumbing through a book, curiously approach and they’d fall into easy conversation.
“I very much describe myself as a romantic guy— I’m big into ‘meet-cutes’ and stuff like that,” said Ahmad, 28, recalling a time he met a woman on the subway.
So when his mom suggested a matchmaker, the first-year medical resident was skeptical.
“I wanted to be the one to discover this person,” he said.
But after a few months, Ahmad, with little time to spare outside the hospital after working six-day weeks, decided to sign up.
He joins a growing number of Gen Z singles seeking alternatives to algorithms amid reports of widespread dating app fatigue and declining user numbers. For some young people looking to foster connection in real life (IRL), matchmakers make sense.
“I’m just letting someone take the wheel,” Ahmad said.
New Yorker Shardil Ahmad turned to a matchmaker to look for love.
CBS News
After the swipe surge, interest in dating apps drops
During the COVID-19 pandemic, dating apps saw record highs; Tinder recorded 3 billion swipes in a single day. Match Group, the parent company of dating apps like Tinder and Hinge, reported a surge in subscribers from the previous year.
Six years later, some disenchanted daters are logging off. Match Group recently reported a 5% decline in paying subscribers from the same period last year, as Gen Z embraces in-person opportunities they missed out on during the pandemic.
Maria Avgitidis, the founder of matchmaking agency Agape Match and a fourth-generation matchmaker, says she’s seen a rise in outreach from young singles. Matchmakers from across the country told CBS News they’re seeing an uptick in younger clients craving in-person connection and moving away from dating apps.
“Many of them graduated high school or college via Zoom, so they really do want that intentionality of in real-life experiences,” Avgitidis said.
Even though Gen Z is delaying marriage and parenthood, the majority eventually want those things, according to the latest available data from the Pew Research Center. Nearly 70% of adults ages 18 to 34, who have never been married, say they want to get married one day, with men and women equally likely to say they’d like to get married.
“If you’re not dating for marriage, what are you dating for?” Ahmad said.
Over the last decade or so, Avgitidis said she’s seen people burned out by online dating and seeking things a profile alone can’t reveal.
“The language dramatically shifted about why someone was using us,” she said, noting that things like values and politics don’t always come across in a dating app profile. She noted that Gen Zers especially tend to consider things like lifestyle, hobbies and having a life plan.
“They really appreciate and value authenticity,” she said. “It’s not so much about fitting into a certain aesthetic.”
Matchmaking is trending— but love isn’t cheap
A rising interest in matchmaking has been reflected in popular culture, from reality shows such as “Indian Matchmaking,” which has since expanded into “Jewish Matchmaking” and “Muslim Matchmaker,” to movies such as “Materialists” starring actress Dakota Johnson as a jaded Manhattan matchmaker, Lucy.
Matchmaking services can cost anywhere from a few thousand to a hundred thousand dollars, depending on what’s included. Some high-end matchmaking firms charge $15,000 to $25,000 for curated matches. Avgitidis said that at Agape, services can range from $30,000 to $100,000.
Working with a matchmaker is a multi-step process, usually involving an in-depth initial survey, a screening interview, and a consultation before a match is made, experts said. Matchmakers create detailed profiles of their clients and prospective matches, including information about their dealbreakers and preferences and religious and political ideologies.
For Ahmad, the financial aspect contributed to his initial hesitation about seeking out matchmaking services.
“How am I gonna spend this much on love?” he said.
But vetted matches and intentional dates ultimately felt like a time saver for Ahmad, who said he recognizes that the services may be inaccessible for some people his age.
“I would recommend anyone to do this if they had the time and financial capabilities to do so,” he said.
Members of Gen Z seeking the matchmaking experience, but feeling daunted by the price, still have options within the matchmaking world. Some matchmaking agencies have free databases, where you can submit a profile to be considered as a potential match for a paying client. Agencies also offer packages which can include individual coaching sessions, dating app profile feedback and dating support communities.
When in doubt, Avgitidis reminds daters that good old-fashioned meddling from family and friends is always an option. After all, dating used to be a collective experience, Avgitidis said, with friends and family members involved.
“One day, we all just started swiping alone on the couch,” Avgitidis said.“We are not meant to date alone.”
Money famously can’t buy you love, but be prepared to pay up for those Valentine’s Day flowers or chocolates this year.
The average consumer is expected to spend roughly $200 — an all-time high and up from $188.81 last year — on the annual day of romance, according to the National Retail Federation.
Virtually every Valentine’s Day staple has gotten significantly more expensive in recent years. Since 2021, prices across related gift categories have seen double-digit inflation, with chocolate costs surging more than 70%, according to federal economic data.
Prices for 32 popular Valentine’s Day chocolate products rose from last year, a recent LendingTree report said, a sign that elevated inflation continues to affect consumers.
Although global cocoa costs have dropped, “retail prices are still sticky,” David Branch, an agriculture expert at Wells Fargo, told CBS News. “That’s because for most candymakers, there’s a lag between when they have to purchase the cocoa beans as raw material, to when they actually produce the product.”
To save money — wait
Christopher Taylor, who owns Li-Lac Chocolates in New York City, said his company has felt the sting of higher chocolate prices, but made a conscious decision two years ago not to increase prices for customers.
“Last year was brutal. … We barely broke even,” said Taylor, noting the impact of steeper U.S. tariffs on his business’s costs. “If we hadn’t locked in those prices, we would have lost a serious amount of money. I just did not detect a customer appetite for higher prices.”
One tip Taylor offers for consumers looking to save a few bucks and who have some flexibility on Valentine’s Day gift-giving: “After the holiday, everything goes down by 50%.”
Dahlia Graham, who owns Fruition Chocolate Works in New York, said her bean-to-bar operation had to shift its purchasing strategies as cocoa prices soared between 2022 and 2024.
“It was really hard. We had to adjust the timing and quantity of our purchases, as well as consider swapping out certain cocoa bean selections for others,” she said.
Graham doesn’t expect to cut her store’s prices anytime soon, pointing to higher labor, packaging and other costs.
Tariff impact
Flowers are also pricier this year, partly because of tariffs. Roughly 80% of all cut flowers sold in the U.S. are imported and subject to steeper U.S. levies, with the vast majority coming from Colombia, Ecuador and other countries in South America.
Tariffs also affect packaging materials like vases, wrapping and ribbons, which mainly come from China. Domestic flower growers aren’t faring much better, as freezing temperatures in early 2026, particularly in the South, have damaged crops and impacted availability.
Bill Anastasakis, the owner of New York Plaza Florist in Manhattan, said roses tend to be the most expensive flower on Valentine’s Day because of strong consumer demand. To save money, he suggests opting for other flowers.
“Roses, and especially red roses, are going to be the most expensive. Red tulips are cheaper — one-third the price,” he said.
Another favorite Valentine’s Day gift — jewelry — has seen the highest price jumps. That’s largely because of the skyrocketing cost of precious metals, with gold prices spiking more than 50% last year and now topping $5,000 an ounce.
Still, love often manages to find a way, even if it costs more. Shoppers are expected to spend a total of $7 billion on jewelry, according to the National Retail Federation. That’s up 8% from last year, making it the category where consumers will spend the most for Valentine’s Day.
