Warren Buffett Warns U.S. Has A Gambling Problem

According to Axios, Warren Buffett said in a CNBC interview that America has a gambling problem and that speculative trading is undermining long-term investing. Buffett, who recently retired from Berkshire Hathaway, said it is becoming harder to find value when people prefer gambling, and he argued there is more money in cultivating gamblers than cultivating investors. His comments come as prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket have expanded, including Kalshi's recent debut of perpetual futures, or perps, which let investors effectively bet on whether an existing asset's price will rise or fall. Critics say prediction markets are facilitating gambling, especially on sports, outside state gaming regulation. Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour said Tuesday at Axios House DC that many users believe conventional markets are not working for them, and on Wednesday he appeared at a Capitol Hill press conference backing a bipartisan bill that would require facial recognition age checks for kids trying to use prediction markets and sportsbooks. Kalshi also recently joined the National Council on Problem Gambling, becoming the first prediction market to do so.