this post was submitted on 16 Mar 2026
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Not The Onion

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[–] RBWells@lemmy.world 4 points 2 hours ago

I feel like if I were trying to manipulate that market I'd be trying to bend reality in a better direction.

[–] Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 hours ago

Holy shit.

Not only this is horrifying cause of the threats, it’s also very unsettling that something with such a recipe for disaster would attract so many rubes to be a working business model.

[–] GoofSchmoofer@lemmy.world 36 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (2 children)

“If you decide to go with your ego and not with your head, you are leaving behind dozens of wealthy people from all over the world who will know that you performed market manipulation and stole from them. They know who you are, you don’t know who they are. It took them less than 5 minutes to find out exactly where you live … how often you see your lovely parents … and exactly who your … brothers and sisters are.”

So the guy threatening the journalist to change his story so the gambler can make money isn't market manipulation, but the journalist not changing his story is....

What scary about this, and it was mentioned in the article, is how future stories by less than ethical "journalist" can be purchased so that one side can become rich. Fuck accuracy it's all about the money.

Well it's not like that is already the case with social media, but I would like to think there is at least some aspect of reporting that is based in ethics and truth.

[–] P00ptart@lemmy.world 3 points 1 hour ago

Polymarket is one of many direct evidence of the impending fall of society.

[–] Krauerking@lemy.lol 14 points 7 hours ago

Oh yeah, it is messed up and doesnt even cover the section where apparently another journalist the writer knows was bribed to try and coerce the flow of information to get that win. It basically confirms that there is already a willing lack of integrity somewhere to think it would work here.

A few hours later, a colleague from another media outlet messaged me. He said that someone he knew asked him to ask me to change the report on the missile impact in Beit Shemesh, and that it would be “negligible” for me if I did make the change.

Going further, the acquaintance even offered the journalist compensation, from his winnings, if he managed to convince me to change my report.

[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 28 points 8 hours ago (2 children)

Polymarket is one of the largest prediction markets in the world, where users can wager their money on the likelihood of future events, using cryptocurrency, debit or credit cards, and bank transfers.

So this is a market place where rich people can bet on how gruesome poor people can die in war zones and genocides. Is this any different from the rich hunting the poor for sport? Instead of a trigger, they click a button, but it's not that different.

Isn't humanity awesome? Can we please start jailing these (or at this point, all) psychopaths?

Seriously, 99% of the population consists of awesome people that take care of one another. The problem is that psychopaths, like the ones from the article, have the need to be on top and control everything and we let them.

Seriously, as far as I can tell, humanity could kill a few 10.000s psychopaths and all of the sudden, no more wars, no more hunger, no more conflicts, no more senseless pollution, the world could heal and humanity could enter a phase of sustainable awesomeness.

No. I am not suggesting we kill them, it was just to make the point. However, I do feel we need to start testing people for psychopathy (as far as possible and work in better screening) to ensure we keep these fuckers from positions of power and money. We need to stop psychopaths from gaining any real power.

Hell, if it were up to me, nobody would get great power or money. I'd have a world wide wealth cap, nobody can be worth over, say 1 or 10 million. Anything over that goes to taxes. THAT will stop people.frok amassing great wealth and power and just stop this shit

For the website: I wish people were still masquerading as Anonymous and would just continuously hack this site into the ground where it belongs, next to its disgusting creators.

Fuck I hate this world :(

[–] tomi000@lemmy.world 3 points 4 hours ago

No. I am not suggesting we kill them

Why not?

[–] altkey@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 8 hours ago

I hate it all too.

Take me out first, please.

[–] a4ng3l@lemmy.world 100 points 12 hours ago

Most cyberpunk read today.

How that shit is not illegal is beyond me. Gambling is already predatory but outside of sports and in fucking armed conflicts is abhorrent.

[–] solidheron@sh.itjust.works 42 points 11 hours ago

Time to boost this post. I have received death threats from Zionist, but I have a feeling these poly market people are scarier since they have money on the line

[–] TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zone 122 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

What a stupid world we've allowed to be concocted.

[–] Dojan@pawb.social 7 points 4 hours ago

Past few years I've been reading a shitty sci-fi series. In this series there's a race of creatures whose entire society is founded on gambling. They bet on everything, and people frequently bankrupt themselves. The moment you look at that world-building with even a little bit of scrutiny it falls apart in its stupidity.

This is even dumber.

[–] Krauerking@lemy.lol 25 points 13 hours ago
[–] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 74 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

So uh… what are the odds on polymarket for the guy getting killed?

[–] OhNoMoreLemmy@lemmy.ml 41 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

Can you put out a contract on someone just by betting on polymarket that they won't die by a particular date?

[–] hansolo@lemmy.today 9 points 11 hours ago

Advanced money laundering skill: 100

Lmao I think technically that would work… but I also don’t know how tightly polymarket polices/moderates wagers like that.

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[–] whyNotSquirrel@sh.itjust.works 8 points 8 hours ago

I really hope their money loss is huge and will bankrupt them, because I doubt they will otherwise let any consequences for their threats

[–] gworl@lemmy.blahaj.zone 32 points 12 hours ago (8 children)

Gambling needs to simply be made illegal

I don’t care what your arguments are gambling needs to be made illegal

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 32 points 11 hours ago (28 children)

I think it's fair for it to be legal, but only in specific locations and contexts. I think small scale gambling between friends and coworkers is fine. I think well regulated casinos are bad but serve as a deterrent to underground criminal gambling. I think having legal gambling through the internet and on your phone, advertised everywhere is a serious problem.

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[–] Not_mikey@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 9 hours ago (6 children)

Prohibition on vices never works, it just sends the money to criminal organizations that kill people instead of capitalist companies that kill less people.

The solution is to have it be state run, remove the profit motive, and send any money gained from it to education and social services.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 1 points 4 hours ago

I don't care about the gambling, my issue is with the advertising. They are enticing people, mostly young men, with visions of excitement and LOTS of money. They don't show any ads of a guy losing the rent money, and having to break the news to his wife.

I don't mind vices being legal, but I strongly object to them being marketed. Cigarettes are banned in most media, and liquor is heavily controlled. I wouldn't mind if all marketing for all vices were prohibited.

[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 6 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (1 children)

Oohh yeah, let the state run the "gambling on genocide" and "gambling on child murder", that sounds awesome!

[–] Not_mikey@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 7 hours ago

Not saying it's the best situation but if the choice is between the mob running it, capitalist corporations running it, and the state running it, I'd pick the state.

The state has an incentive to decrease problem gambling. Even if you ignore any democratic pressures from the people who don't like gambling being pushed, the state also has to bear the cost of addicts with social services so it's monetarily incentivized to reduce problem gambling.

[–] FredFig@awful.systems 2 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (2 children)

Removing the profit motive of gambling is exactly prohibition, what????

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[–] daannii@lemmy.world 11 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

House always wins. It's literally just a way to steal people's money.

And in the city I live now, they passed a law for those stupid slot machines like 10 years ago.

Now they are everywhere.

You know who sits at slot machines?

Old people. Retired people.
People living off social security.

It's literally a way to steal money from people who need it most. And specifically, it was tax payers money.

So whenever I hear ,"but it creates revenue" I think. "Yeah by stealing it from the state and our seniors. Wtf. That's not real revenue."

And this whole idea of autonomy. Like people have to choose for themselves if they want to gamble.

We all know it's addictive. And it's designed to trick and manipulate people.

There is less autonomy there than you think.

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[–] deacon@lemmy.world 10 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Given all the entanglements of all the big players, I genuinely wonder how much polymarket is predicting vs influencing events

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[–] Eyekaytee@aussie.zone 15 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

For those asking the same question I have: how is this legal? surprisingly informative video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOptJl8Xkx0

[–] ceenote@lemmy.world 32 points 12 hours ago (4 children)

The 21st century really is the "It might seem illegal, but we called it something else, so it's not" century, especially for the US.

It's not gambling, it's a prediction market, or loot boxes. It's not war, it's a military operation. It's not bribery, it's lobbying. It's not drug dealing, it's encouraging doctors to prescribe medications which happen to be extremely addictive...

[–] jqubed@lemmy.world 18 points 11 hours ago

It’s not an illegal taxi service, it’s ride sharing.

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