Tonya Mosley
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
This is Fresh Air.
I'm Tanya Mosley.
and Israeli strikes killed Iran's supreme leader last month, some Americans weren't just watching the news.
They were waiting for a payout after wagering on the Ayatollah's fate on a prediction market site called Kalshi.
When he died, Kalshi refused to pay, citing fine print that excluded death as a qualifying outcome.
Thousands of betters are now suing for $54 million.
This isn't the first time a real-world crisis has become a windfall for online bettors.
forces stormed Venezuela, an anonymous account on the platform PolyMarket wagered tens of thousands of dollars that President Nicolas Maduro would be in U.S.
custody by the end of February.
When Maduro was captured, that anonymous bettor walked away with more than $400,000 in profit.
That story stopped my guest, writer McKay Coppins, cold.
By that point, he was already four months into a reported experiment for The Atlantic, spending an entire NFL season gambling to understand what America's sports betting boom is doing to the country.
He thought he understood the terrain, the apps, the addiction, the game-fixing standals.
But the Maduro bet pointed to something bigger.
A new relationship with gambling, where everything is potentially a wager.
From sports to elections, award show winner outcomes, even tomorrow's weather.
His piece explores the personal and societal cost of these bargains.
Coppins is a staff writer at The Atlantic, and his piece is called Sucker, My Year as a Degenerate Gambler.