Comment Text:
"Prediction markets" is just gambling by another name. These companies are openly preying on people who have gambling addictions and lack financial literacy. They are taking advantage of the growing wealth inequality gap and by offering people false hope of riches, they will likely make it even worse. Allowing these sites to continue operating is destructive to our society, national security, economic well-being, mental health, and more. Betting on things like wars and death is morally reprehensible and deeply disturbing. No one should be allowed to profit off of even the potential for human suffering. Incentivizing gambling on these types of things is socially corrosive and accelerates our decline into a low-trust society. I don't want to live in a world that encourages people to risk their hard-earned money betting on mass tragedies. Additionally, the opportunity for people in all areas of business, government, and more to use insider information to affect the outcome of these wagers is an astronomical flaw. The way they've been operating provides all the wrong incentives to people with wealth and power and it compromises our safety across the globe. Frankly, it baffles me that these markets have been allowed to operate this long. They need at bare minimum HEAVY taxation and regulation. I expect to see just as much restriction for these sites as any brick-and-mortar casino, because their business model is no different. Better yet, shut these sites down entirely. They exist only to take advantage of the working class, and to accelerate wealth inequality while profiting off of greed, corruption, and human suffering. I'm confident that history will remember prediction markets only as a moral stain on this era.
