Rome lived upon its principal till ruin stared it in the face. Industry is the only true source of wealth, and there was no industry in Rome. By day the Ostia road was crowded with carts and muleteers, carrying to the great city the silks and spices of the East, the marble of Asia Minor, the timber of the Atlas, the grain of Africa and Egypt; and the carts brought out nothing but loads of dung. That was their return cargo.
– The Martyrdom of Man by Winwood Reade (1871)
Look at this legal definition of gambling: "Gambling is when a person bets or risks something of value (like money) based on a chance outcome that is OUT OF THEIR CONTROL OR INFLUENCE with the understanding that they will either gain increased value or lose their original value determined by the specific outcome."
Examples of this is are the stock market and a government lottery, advertising "get rich quick" opportunities. This is also called a tax on the stupid.
Kalshi and other betting platforms offer predictions on likely political, geopolitical, cultural and economic events in the real world.
Perceptive cultural analysts look beyond fake media narratives to discern outcomes which become obvious to them for clear evidentiary reasons.
While individual payouts aren't always publicly detailed due to privacy, aggregated reports and interviews highlight several notable six- and seven-figure earnings:
"Can you see those dark clouds gathering up ahead?
They’re gonna wash this planet clean like the Bible said
Now you can hold on steady, try to be ready
But everybody’s gonna get wet
Don’t think it won’t happen just because it hasn’t happened yet."
Jackson Browne, The Road and the Sky, 1974
"We have had enough of our men enslaved, our women raped, wagons loaded with the severed heads of our people, the sale of chained captives, the mockery of our religion…. [W]e shall not stop until we succeed in expelling the enemy from Europe.”
—John Hunyadi, Hungarian Regent (1406-1456)