Comment by afthonos

As someone who at first embraced the idea of prediction markets and is now ambivalent, sending them underground vastly reduces their harm. First, because discoverability is an issue. Second, there will be much less liquidity. Third, any gains will have to be laundered or hidden, making it even more difficult.

Maybe prediction markets are net positives, or maybe regulating them will make them so, but banning them does resolve most of their negative effects.