{"podcast":{"title":"Channels with Peter Kafka","slug":"channels-with-peter-kafka-487706","podcast_index_feed_id":487706,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/recodemedia","website_url":"http://podcasts.voxmedia.com/show/channels-with-peter-kafka","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/e4384094-e69c-11e8-8066-d3e055e78c28/image/c9e40c7e1baaea55eee29ba9541579b7.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"Vox Media Podcast Network","episode_count":598,"summary":"Media and tech aren’t just intersecting — they’re fully intertwined. And to understand how those worlds work, and what they mean for you, veteran journalist Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers - and gets them to spell it out in plain, BS-free English. Part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.","last_synced_at":"2026-09-02T20:20:06.224097+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/channels-with-peter-kafka-487706"},"episode":{"title":"Why Prediction Markets Are Turning Everything Into a Bet","slug":"why-prediction-markets-are-turning-everything-into-a-bet","published_at":"2026-03-25T08:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/channels-with-peter-kafka-487706/why-prediction-markets-are-turning-everything-into-a-bet","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/channels-with-peter-kafka-487706","url":"https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/mgln.ai/e/257/traffic.megaphone.fm/VMP7725124959.mp3?updated=1774386657","audio_url":"https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/mgln.ai/e/257/traffic.megaphone.fm/VMP7725124959.mp3?updated=1774386657","summary":"Prediction markets are suddenly everywhere: in sports, in politics, in the media business — and, depending on who you ask, they’re either a useful forecasting tool or just gambling with better branding. So what changed? And why is the federal government sounding more like a booster than a regulator? WIRED’s Kate Knibbs joins me to explain why she made prediction markets her beat, how Kalshi and Polymarket went mainstream, why Trump-world is so friendly to them, why some states are trying to stop them, and what happens when more and more of public life gets turned into a bet. We also talk about media companies cutting deals with prediction-market firms, the blurry rules around insider trading, and why this story is really about the casino-fication of everything. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices","meta_description":"Prediction markets are suddenly everywhere: in sports, in politics, in the media business — and, depending on who you ask, they’re either a useful forecas…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2754,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/channels-with-peter-kafka-487706/episodes/why-prediction-markets-are-turning-everything-into-a-bet/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/channels-with-peter-kafka-487706/why-prediction-markets-are-turning-everything-into-a-bet.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}