There is a valid purpose for (some) trades in a prediction market, namely as a form of insurance/risk management for specific risks a company or individual might have.
For example, if you are a company whose current business would be severely hurt if a particular piece of legislation passes, it might make sense to hedge that risk by placing a bet on a prediction market that the legislation will pass. That way, if your business is hurt by the legislation, you can use the proceeds to offset the harm and pivot to something else.
Of course, that doesn’t explain most prediction market contracts, but that is the idea at least.
And another thing... What is the harm of malfunctioning insider dominated prediction markets, other than those hedging possibilities evaporating?
I am not taking a position, I am wondering.
When they started they were an academic curiosity and experiment. Now they are becoming a social phenomenon are they more harmful than, say, stamp collecting?
"Fools and their money" is OK so long as the fools are truly volunteering, surely?
They create another financial incentive for insiders to make decisions focused solely on personal profit, rather than good stewardship of whatever they are in charge of.
I don't give a shit about the addicts losing their money on those markets, I don't want bad decisions to be made that affect me, when the main incentive for making them is fleecing the addicts of their money.
For example, if you are a company whose current business would be severely hurt if a particular piece of legislation passes, it might make sense to hedge that risk by placing a bet on a prediction market that the legislation will pass. That way, if your business is hurt by the legislation, you can use the proceeds to offset the harm and pivot to something else.
Of course, that doesn’t explain most prediction market contracts, but that is the idea at least.