Patrick Boyle explains why it's illegal to bet on the price of onions but it's OK to bet on the Dodgers' double header

One of the best overviews I've seen of the strange world of prediction markets, told with Boyle characteristic dry wit. I've included some excerpts to give you a sense of the essay, but the thing is quotable. CoincidenceYou might expect the federal commodities regulator to step in at this point and clarify that a bet on the New York Knicks is not, in fact, a vital financial derivative. But they have not. According to the Financial Times, the CFTC has mostly just been avoiding the question. Well, it’s actually a bit worse than that. Under the new administration, the CFTC and the Department of Justice have gone to federal court to block the state of Arizona from enforcing its gambling laws against Kalshi. So, the federal government now appears to be deploying its legal resources to defend a tech platform’s right to operate what Arizona considers an unlicensed sportsbook, overriding state law in the process. Whatever your views may be on prediction markets, you have to agree that this is…