Kalshi, Draftkings, Gambling Industry Update and the Greed to get Every Dollar

If money rides on an uncertain outcome, it’s gambling—no matter what the branding brochure says. We pull back the curtain on a fast-converging ecosystem where sportsbooks, prediction markets, and media platforms fuse into one attention machine. It is All Greed.  From ESPN shifting its sportsbook to DraftKings to CNN leaning into prediction branding with Kalshi, we track the power moves, the incentives behind them, and the ripple effects that reach fans, athletes, and families.

We revisit the roots of the American Gaming Association, started in 1994, and explain why today’s giants want distance from legacy definitions. The language is evolving—“markets” instead of “bets,” “engagement” instead of “losses”—but the core mechanics remain: speed, volume, and an illusion of control. Micro-betting offers pitch-by-pitch action while leagues flag irregularities. College athletes face harassment over missed props. Winners get treated with suspicion; losers feed the model. Regulation provides a legal lane, not a shield against harm, and “responsible gambling” often functions as liability strategy rather than real protection.  There is no integrity.  Only more scandal.

Along the way, we draw a firm line between long-horizon investing and short-cycle speculation, highlighting how options, crypto churn, and prediction apps mirror casino dynamics. The takeaway is both practical and personal: name the behavior, slow the tempo, and step outside systems designed to keep you playing. Recovery starts where the bets end. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs a reality check, and leave a review telling us where you draw the line between investing and gambling.

Chapters

• 0:01 Defining Gambling And Labels
• 1:12 ESPN, DraftKings, And Industry Consolidation
• 2:32 CNN’s Prediction Push With Cauchy
• 3:39 AGA History And Prediction Market Tensions
• 5:11 Legal Expansion And Real-World Harms
• 6:17 Integrity Claims Versus Addiction Reality
• 8:20 Final Warnings And Recovery Focus

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:01

Man, I hope your head is on a swivel. Man, there is so much goes on within the gambling world. I always tell people you don't need to gamble, or I guess if you're talking about the gambling industry, or if we're talking about prediction markets, none of it's gambling. The prediction market says it's not gambling. They do not have to be regulated, they have to go through a security exchange. The gambling industry says that gambling is entertainment, it's just like going to the movies or bowling. It's amazing how no one labels gambling as gambling. To me, it's all gamble. If there's an outcome, whether you win or you lose, and there's money on it, it's gambling. Same thing. You can possibly say certain things in the stock market, like if you actually put money into an index fund and just sit let it sit, that's an investment. I agree that can be an investment. But for the most part, everything, if you're doing options, crypto, all that, that's all gambling. Let's take a look at what's been happening in the gambling world. First off, we have ESPN dropped Penn Entertainment, and now their sports book is being run by DraftKings. Now, DraftKings is now the official sports book for ESPN. You still can see ESPN bet, you know, somewhere. It's actually on you know certain major sports league stadiums, whether it's in the outfield wall, like in Pittsburgh, PNC Park. There's a lot of other ways to see how this merger is going to work. You see, everyone wants to be the big bookie. Everyone is so desperate to get all this gamble and money because they think that the general public, me and you, are so dumb that we're going to keep throwing money. It's amazing how many people want to believe that the industry is going to tell us how to be healthy with this stupid, responsible gambling that is a farce that is only designed for legal liability. What else is happening? Well, last week, Cauchy raised$1 billion from an$11 billion evaluation merged with CNN. So now when you turn on CNN, they're going to have the Cauchy brand. Now, who is Call Shi? Cauchy is a prediction market company. So I'm going to be coming to you at all different things. We're talking about casinos, sportsbooks, prediction markets, anything, especially when it involves sports, and it involves actually casinos, involves any other types of prediction. So now Cauchy and CNN are going to be working together because CNN wants to utilize Cauchy. I'm assuming when they start doing election predictions, you're going to see the Cauchy brand splintered all over. Now, of course, that's a little different because now you have other industries trying to get into the prediction. See, let's go back to a little history. The American Gaming Association, which was designed for the U.S. casinos and the tribal casinos back in 1994, they were formed. They wanted to promote and regulate gambling. Obviously, 1994 was really, you know, the NASCENT, you know, certain states were building casinos and they so they kind of got together to build this up. Of course, now in November 2025, DraftKings and FanDuel no longer want to be a part of the American Gaming Association because the American Association is very specific. They do not want anybody who actually has some type of part of their business model into the prediction market. And FanDuel and DraftKings have their own entity now. They're no longer just a fantasy sports, they're no longer a sports book, they're no longer doing all this other type of gaming. They believe that prediction market is part of another arm of their group. So you're gonna have FanDuel Predicts, DraftKings predictions. So they're actively moving ahead. They originally had different deals with different prediction market companies. Caushi already had signed up with the NHL, the National Hockey League. I mean, it's all, I mean, they just cannot stumble over each other, just dying to get your next bet, trying to speed up the bet, trying to hit all kinds of demographics, the people who like sports books, like former athletes, the people who like prediction markets, the people who like mobile casinos. It's all kind of getting squared away and pushed into one. Like I said, you know, we had the new estate take in sports betting Missouri last week on the December 1st, 2025, where it's now open season to bet in Missouri, even though it passed in November 24. Took a while to get through all the gaming legislation as well as the regulatory on how they how Missouri wanted to handle it. What else is kind of going on? I mean, it's like a thousand things going on. Major League Sports League now all of a sudden is going to try to limit on how many different pitches you can actually bet on in live pitching because they saw some type of irregularities. You got all the abuse, like at least 60% of NCAA athletes are getting harassed by betters after they lose some type of stupid prop bet, whether they went over or under, up or down. You think that's a healthy industry where you're con where the actual gamblers are now abusing college athletes because they lost a bet is no different. You know, what happens on the pro side, but the pro side, those guys usually have different types of, especially the big players, they have teams that can handle and divert some of the BS that doesn't touch them. But the athlete college athletes, they're a lot closer to the action. So you have all this going on in the gambling world. I always say if they really cared about the integrity, because that's that's their big word, integrity. We care about the integrity of gambling, and that's why we are regulated. No, you are regulated because that is the way to try to make this legal drug dealing available to you. And I will always use that analogy. Gambling and drug dealing are the same thing. Whether you're a casino, whether you're a sports book, whether you're a prediction market, it is all a drug. Gambling hits the brain like the cocaine hits the brain. You are no different than drug dealers, but you even have a much more addictive product. That's what's amazing. You have a much more addictive product. I mean, there's just a lot going on. So I want people to just remain vigilant. Man, there's no need to actually put this poison into your bloodstream because 99% of all gamblers lose. That's a fact. Do you ever wonder why casinos always assume that a player is cheating if they win big? Isn't that kind of just sad? You would think that if they had some integrity, they would just pay out and not do an investigation and find out how someone won big, whether on a crap's table or blackjack, how they had this big run, and they just happen to just get the luck for that day. But it just shows you that the casinos, the sports books, all these corporations assume you are going to lose. That's why they're getting into the game because they see you as a mark. You're a Vic. You are easy money. The lure of easy money for these guys is unsatiable, insatiable. They will not stop till they take all your money. So don't do it. Remember, life is wonderful, recovery is beautiful, your EQ is your IQ. You cannot outthink an emotional issue, the recovery freedom circle. We're just coming here with just a lot of excellent information on just how you can live your best life, fulfill all your dreams and goals without gambling. It is there for the taking. So you can always be on top. With that, we're gonna end this quick little episode on the 1% in recovery podcast.