this post was submitted on 24 Jun 2026
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[–] artyom@piefed.social 9 points 14 hours ago (4 children)

studies showing that most bettors lose money.

How do "most betters lose money"? The way I understand it there's a winner for every loser, no?

[–] LastYearsIrritant@sopuli.xyz 20 points 10 hours ago

Bets aren't 1-1.

You can have one person with insider information win a seemingly impossible bet against 1000 people taking the other side.

The person who wins takes in a ton of money, and Polymarket takes a cut.

Each of those 1000 people all thought they had an easy win, but the only people winning these bets are people who either are the people making the decisions, or who are in the room with the people making those decisions.

[–] quandang@lemmy.world 21 points 14 hours ago

That means the wins are concentrated to a few while the losses are spread out

[–] PapaStevesy@lemmy.world 12 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

No, take a lottery for instance: many people play, almost no one wins. You can bet on "anything" on Polymarket, like when or where an event is going to take place, so most of the time you're betting against the market. There's probably plenty of bets where no one wins at all. Everyone betting could spontaneously agree that Punxsutawney Phil is going to see his shadow (unlikely I know, but if only 5 people are betting, it's not that crazy), if he doesn't, no one wins. Except the site.

[–] artyom@piefed.social -5 points 10 hours ago (2 children)
[–] PapaStevesy@lemmy.world 2 points 5 hours ago

When you're betting on random bullshit and it's possible for no one to win, the difference between that and a lottery is negligible.

[–] whoisearth@lemmy.ca 4 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Anyone who believes it's not gambling.... I have a bridge to sell you.

[–] artyom@piefed.social 0 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

No one said it's not gambling, I said it's not a lottery.

[–] Evotech@lemmy.world 2 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

He never said it was in the first place

[–] artyom@piefed.social 0 points 7 hours ago

Who never said what?

[–] Throbbing_banjo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 12 hours ago

That winner is the house. Most players lose.