Will the U.S. officially declare war on Iran in 2025? Will the current administration invade Venezuela before the holidays? Will the Doomsday Clock move closer to midnight this year? These are the kinds of questions on the minds of those of us who cannot detach from the perpetual news cycle. But for some, these are opportunities to make a quick buck. Sites like Polymarket and Kalshi give everyone –especially young men – a chance to play and profit from the tragedy and strife of others in a gamified experience that could easily have been an early episode of Black Mirror.
The premise is simple: join the site, find an issue that interests you, and place your bet. If your team wins – whether it’s the Lakers, a geopolitical event, or Real Madrid – you profit. In a world where men facing financial instability are 16.3 times more likely to have had suicidal thoughts in the last two weeks, the promise of getting rich fast can be hard to resist. Equimundo’s report, The Manosphere Rewired, found that building wealth and achieving success are among the main anxieties that bring men into online spaces, alongside a quest for love, friendship, and getting fit.
Sites like the ones mentioned above know this and exploit it. They offer the opportunity to make a profit in a few simple steps, marketing it as a way to “capitalize on opinions, trade in the domain of everyday life, and hedge risks that relate to you.” In a world where everyone has an opinion, why not make a bank on it? My grandfather, who used to run a casino when he was younger, always told me: “You won’t win at gambling! The game is rigged!” Simply put, the house always wins.
While my nonno’s lesson is a well-known truth, the chance that it might work for you can be hard to resist. The sites are flashy, displaying leaderboards of people who seem to have made small – and not-so-small – fortunes by betting on someone else’s pain. They also advertise on social media pages frequented by young men trying to catch a break.
It’s easy to quickly judge the thousands of users in comment sections willing to bet on an 8.0-magnitude earthquake hitting California or debating whether a ceasefire in the Middle East has already been broken – not out of concern for lives lost, but for the potential payout. But instead of that gut reaction, we should ask: what brought us here? Why do these types of businesses appeal to young men? And more importantly, how do we avoid becoming a society that profits from other people’s pain?
As my grandfather said, the game is rigged – not just the gambling one, but the entire system we are in. We were sold the idea that if we worked hard enough, studied enough, and wanted it badly enough, we could achieve the American Dream. Most young men and women know this isn’t true. They saw their parents break their backs and still fall short. They see owning a home as something that only happens on Selling Sunset (my favorite Netflix reality show). They know college is more likely a guarantee of perpetual debt than a stepping stone to success.
If the system is rigged, who is rigging it? My finger points at those profiting from it: those selling quick fixes, miracle solutions to get rich fast, the protein shake that will make you absurdly ripped, or the online course that promises to get you noticed by the girl who doesn’t even know you exist.
Where do I place my bet? I’m betting on young men choosing connection over exploitation, purpose over profit, and community over chaos. But that doesn’t happen on its own. If we want young men to move away from platforms that monetize fear and cynicism, we need to offer something better: places where they are seen and heard – not for what they can wager, but for who they can become. If the game is rigged, we don’t fix it by betting harder – we fix it by changing the rules.
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