Cryptocurrency Lawyer: Prediction Market Polymarket Does Not Have a Gambling Problem

Although regulators around the world have banned Polymarket on the grounds that it is a gambling platform, lawyer Aaron Brogan has good reason to argue that it is not a gambling platform.
Aaron Brogan, a New York-based cryptocurrency lawyer, argues that on the surface, prediction markets are just an online version of gambling, and that claim doesn't hold true. "If you're a state-licensed gambling product, then you're betting on one side. You're essentially betting against your users," Brogan said. "You're booking bets... and offering users certain odds. Whether you make money or not depends on the odds you set."
In contrast, prediction markets such as Polymarket and Kalshi act as neutral intermediaries, matching deals without taking sides and making money from transaction fees. "Prediction markets are not gambling because they are not structured to be gambling," Brogan says. "They are tools for understanding, hedging and creating public goods. That's what makes them fundamentally different."