alt Hacker NewsThe vast majority of bets on Kalshi (90% according to another user) are sports bets. There's no risk being hedged here; it's just gussied-up sports betting.
A substantial portion of the other bets on the market are other trivial events of no financial significance. For instance, the second insider case described in the article involved the contents of Mr. Beast videos.
> For example, if you are a high level democrat party leader and you will lose your job if a republican wins...
This would probably constitute insider trading, as the party leader has a direct role in their party's election results.
My example is not great. A better one would be an employee at an oil company may be personally impacted depending which party is elected and they want to create their own hedge.
on sports betting, people's income depends on if a team wins or looses. If the team didn't make it to the playoffs, then their bonuses (or income) is reduced. Sports betting enables these people to smooth out their income, instead of all or nothing.
I agree, these tools are frequently abused by gamblers (or better: the tools abuse gamblers), but unlike your typical casino game, there is utility in these services for certain groups of people.