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Comment by apt-apt-apt-apt

1 day ago

If you wager in a prediction market, isn't it expected that there will be some insider trading or thrown results? Because there are clearly people who know when and where bombs will land, and financial incentive to throw results.

Thus it makes sense to not participate at all, unless YOU are the one doing the cheating.

Prediction markets are just inside traders profiting off gambling addicts. If you are not an inside trader, you're the loser paying out.

  • I think we got “lucky” for a while when prediction markets were a small niche interest and they provided a weird novel way of making predictions.

    But once they get big enough to attract the attention of people that directly affect the outcomes they will eventually become useless because people will realize the only options are to have inside information or be willing to hand money over with inside info.

    The only “fair” outcomes will be things outside human control, like betting on the weather.

  • That's absolutely it. Cheaters or chumps, neither of whom should be encouraged.

> Thus it makes sense to not participate at all, unless YOU are the one doing the cheating.

Um, exactly?

You don't have a legal system to hold the companies accountable for any payout. You don't have published odds with a regulator ensuring those odds are enforced. You have zero transparency whatsoever. You have systems where if you start winning, they will effectively cut you off.

Everything about online betting screams "SCAM!" from the rooftops. Everything about online betting has always screamed "SCAM!" from the rooftops.

What part of this aren't people getting? The house always wins.