Donald Trump recently remarked that the world has turned into a casino, highlighting the massive rise in betting and prediction markets involving billions of dollars annually.
Trump’s Reflection on Modernity
“Unfortunately, the whole world has become a bit like a casino. Just look at what is happening around the world; in Europe and everywhere else, they are making all these bets. I never really liked it. Conceptually, I don’t like it—all these different services, prediction markets. We live in a crazy world. It is a completely different world than before,” Donald Trump recently shared.
The Venezuelan Betting Connection
Trump’s remarks were a response to a journalist’s question regarding a US special forces soldier accused of placing large bets on Nicolas Maduro being removed from power in Venezuela. The soldier “predicted” what would happen to Maduro because he himself participated in the operation in which Maduro was kidnapped and transported to the United States.
The Surge in Betting and Prediction Markets
Regarding the popularity of gambling, it is difficult to deny the American president’s point. In 2019, one year after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the federal ban on sports betting unconstitutional, Americans bet a total of $13 billion. In 2025, that figure reached nearly $170 billion.
Competing with bookmakers, new “prediction markets” where one can bet on almost anything reached a monthly turnover of $26 billion this March. Additionally, the Warsaw-listed investment platform XTB gained nearly 900,000 new clients in 2025, with another 370,000 in the first quarter of 2026—more than the company’s entire record-breaking year in 2023.
The Convergence of Investment and Gambling
While theoretically representing three different sectors—prediction markets claim they are not bookmaking, and investment apps claim they have nothing to do with gambling—they build their success on the same foundations. These include massive marketing budgets, addictive application design, advanced technology for data collection and personalization, and, primarily, the fact that most users lose their “investments” but cannot stop betting.
The “Co to będzie” episode discusses bookmaking and gambling that masquerades as investment, exploring how these services entice younger men and women, the tactics used to prevent users from quitting, and how to regulate the industry. The program is hosted by Marta Nowak and Miłosz Wiatrowski-Bujacz.
