by Andrew John Tucker, LCSW
Researched by Corina Evi Tucker y de la Huerta
www.addictiontherapynyc.com
A quieter but important evolution is happening in the gambling landscape, and many people don’t realize it yet. Betting is no longer just about sports outcomes or casino games. Increasingly, it’s being reframed as forecasting, information trading, or prediction markets.
The article “Betting on the Future: A Legal Evaluation of Prediction Markets,” published by Vanderbilt Law School, explores how these markets operate in a legal gray zone. Instead of wagering on teams or games, participants “trade” on real-world events like elections, economic indicators, or global outcomes. The framing sounds academic, even intellectual…which is precisely the point.
From a clinical perspective, this matters. The behavior often activates the same dopamine-driven reward loops as traditional gambling, but with an added layer of legitimacy. When clients struggle with these platforms, they frequently minimize the impact…or feel confused about whether it “counts” as gambling at all. That ambiguity fuels shame, denial, and delayed help-seeking.
What this article does well is name the structural issue. It shows how innovation consistently outruns regulation, leaving individuals to shoulder the consequences of systems designed to feel safer, smarter, and less risky than they truly are. That reframe is powerful in recovery. It moves the conversation away from personal failure and toward informed awareness.
Three practical ways clinicians can use this article in addiction recovery:
- As psychoeducation to help clients recognize gambling patterns that don’t look like casinos or sportsbooks.
- As language for reducing shame when clients say, “I didn’t think this was really gambling.”
- As a foundation for conversations about consent, transparency, and how platforms shape behavior.
Understanding the rules of the game matters…especially when the game keeps changing.
Original article:
Betting on the Future: A Legal Evaluation of Prediction Markets
Vanderbilt Law School
https://law.vanderbilt.edu/betting-on-the-future-a-legal-evaluation-of-prediction-markets/
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