Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Spain blocks prediction markets Polymarket, Kalshi over lack of gambling licence

reuters.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

241–250 of 559 posts

Re: Spain blocks prediction markets Polymarket, Kalshi over lack of gambling licence

#241

Post by charlieyu1 »

Zigurd wrote: post #211
charlieyu1 wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with this. Pretty shocking to see all the replies you got though. Over the last 10-20 years there seems to be a drastic increase of people who think government control is a good idea.

It could have something to do with the really bad evil and stupid ideas that people like Peter Thiel propagate with the immense wealth they've accumulated. If the Venn diagram of billionaire nerds and fascists were less of a circle you might have a point.

If Spain hadn't been blocking critical internet infrastructure whenever a LaLiga game is played you might have a point.

Re: Spain blocks prediction markets Polymarket, Kalshi over lack of gambling licence

#242

Post by josefritzishere »

IAmBroom wrote: post #131
josefritzishere wrote: post #9

Well, that makes perfect sense. The whole world will eventually do the same. gambling with software is still gambling, just like accounting with software is still accounting.

You are stunningly more optimistic than I.

I thought I was being cynical. Classifying these services as gambling means they become a source of tax revenue for nation states.

Re: Spain blocks prediction markets Polymarket, Kalshi over lack of gambling licence

#243

Post by somenameforme »

amelius wrote: post #15
solenoid0937 wrote: post #7

These - especially Polymarket - should be illegal globally, as they incentivize people with power to manipulate the real world in horribly destructive ways to win a bet. I would not be surprised if people are murdered at some point to reap the payout of some related bet.

Someone should place a bet on the lifespan of the polymarket founders.

Users can't create markets on Polymarket, they're all created by Polymarket itself.

Re: Spain blocks prediction markets Polymarket, Kalshi over lack of gambling licence

#244

Post by somenameforme »

d4ng wrote: post #217
solenoid0937 wrote: post #7

These - especially Polymarket - should be illegal globally, as they incentivize people with power to manipulate the real world in horribly destructive ways to win a bet. I would not be surprised if people are murdered at some point to reap the payout of some related bet.

This is very naive. Many people have incentives to manipulate the financial markets, also with real world consequences. Should we ban financial markets as a result? Do you really think that there are no people, who have bet on the price of something in one direction or the other, who enact real world consequences on people or other entities in order to ensure their bet? This is par for the course.

And with many orders of magnitude greater liquidity available than on something like polymarket.

Re: Spain blocks prediction markets Polymarket, Kalshi over lack of gambling licence

#245

Post by 10000truths »

swingboy wrote: post #229
throwawa1 wrote: post #31

When I see people making money on Iran attacks, and murder of heads of state - it shows clearly something is deeply wrong with Polymarket. Its a level worse than Vegas or Indian casinos. A literal ticket to hell. I'm all for banning these evil sites.

I don’t think they allow bets regarding if someone is going to die or not?

Sounds like this could easily be worked around by placing a bet on something that will definitely happen as a result of a death, i.e. "bet $X on whether Iran will close the strait".

Re: Spain blocks prediction markets Polymarket, Kalshi over lack of gambling licence

#247

Post by pjc50 »

ifdefdebug wrote: post #140
throwawa1 wrote: post #31

When I see people making money on Iran attacks, and murder of heads of state - it shows clearly something is deeply wrong with Polymarket. Its a level worse than Vegas or Indian casinos. A literal ticket to hell. I'm all for banning these evil sites.

well I see more problematic the people actually doing the Iran attacks and murder of heads of state. Betting on those is distasteful, but doing those things is where the damage lies.

Military insiders can also buy oil futures...

Re: Spain blocks prediction markets Polymarket, Kalshi over lack of gambling licence

#248

Post by BeetleB »

AtNightWeCode wrote: post #82
WarmWash wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> as they incentivize people with power to manipulate the real world I would argue that the ratio between "power" and "money to be won" is too big (at least right now) for this to materially matter. No fortune 500 CEO is going to postpone a product launch so they can win $5,000 on polymarket. But some random guy will get his hair dryer to win a socially meaningless weather bet. It's not discussed often, but the liqui…

The CEO of Coinbase finished an earnings call by reading all the buzzwords you could bet on to be mention during the call. So a CEO can manipulate these things and who knows if it was just a marketing thing or if he shared his plans.

As long as he didn't place any bets, I think what he did is totally fine.

If I find out my friends placed bets on whether I'll say X tomorrow, I'm not obligated to act as if I didn't know.

Re: Spain blocks prediction markets Polymarket, Kalshi over lack of gambling licence

#249

Post by BeetleB »

kaveh_h wrote: post #227
stackedinserter wrote: post #62

[flagged]

Watch your words soon Spain and Morocco will put a toll both for ships passing strait of Gibraltar.

The cruise industry collapsing isn't going to have as big an effect as you think ;-)

Re: Spain blocks prediction markets Polymarket, Kalshi over lack of gambling licence

#250

Post by BeetleB »

charlieyu1 wrote: post #155
jespinel wrote: post #16

[flagged]

I agree with this. Pretty shocking to see all the replies you got though. Over the last 10-20 years there seems to be a drastic increase of people who think government control is a good idea.

> Over the last 10-20 years there seems to be a drastic increase of people who think government control is a good idea.

I haven't noticed an increase - roughly half the country tends to be in favor of this at any given time. Perhaps you've just widened your circles a little?

Post reply on HN