Against the vice economy |
Waking up on a Saturday morning to find out that Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro has been captured in a lightning raid by United States special forces is surreal enough. But imagine learning of the raid on CNN and then being invited to bet on it.
CNN recently signed a deal with “web-based prediction market platform” Kalshi to “integrate prediction markets into its global newsroom,” and it is already advertising its product on the network. CNN, reportedly, will not turn its reporters into bettors, but it will feed Kalshi probabilities directly into the newsroom and put Kalshi graphics on air during relevant segments. The goal being, of course, to increase Kalshi’s market volume and profits.
“Kalshi lets you legally trade on anything, anywhere in the U.S.,” one Kalshi ad brags before closing with the tag line, “The world’s gone mad, trade it.”
Kalshi’s founder, Tarek Mansour, is not exactly humble in his vision for the company,........