Prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi operate in a regulatory vacuum that’s long garnered a reputation for allowing insider trading to run rampant — and that’s without getting into their role in encouraging problem gambling.
The platforms, which effectively apply the approach of popular sports betting companies to allow the public to wager on practically anything, clearly give holders of confidential information a massive leg up.
As such, bets on the platforms aren’t particularly indicative of the probability of an event actually happening as opposed to which side is more financially invested in either outcome. It’s a murky and ethically dubious web of hidden incentives that more often than not leaves the average user holding the bag.
Now CBS News, under the contentious leadership of editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, is the latest news enterprise to embrace prediction markets. The broadcaster threw caution — and journalistic integrity — to the wind by signing a partnership with Kalshi to cover the upcoming elections.
