Victor Strategies EVP Gene Johnson: Prediction Markets ‘Biggest Scam I’ve Ever Seen’

Victor Strategies EVP Gene Johnson: Prediction Markets ‘Biggest Scam I’ve Ever Seen’

Player props, multi-leg combos, point spreads, and over/unders. Open up an app offering all of that, and you’d be forgiven for thinking you’d landed in a sportsbook.

The thing is, these days, you may actually be looking at a federally regulated prediction market.

It’s a future Gene Johnson anticipated.

Back in March 2025, Johnson wrote a column warning that sports prediction markets wouldn’t stop at simple game-outcome contracts. He predicted that they’d move into player props and parlays until it became increasingly difficult to tell prediction markets and sportsbooks apart.

More than a year later, CasinoBeats spoke with Johnson in a wide-ranging interview and asked him to revisit that prediction in light of everything that had changed since.

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New York Sports: Prediction Market Deals Test How Far the State’s Crackdown Can Go

New York Sports: Prediction Market Deals Test How Far the State’s Crackdown Can Go

Polymarket partners with the Yankees and Rangers. Novig signs a deal with the Mets. Kalshi named official prediction-market partner of Madison Square Garden.

Headlines like these are everywhere, so much so that you’d hardly know New York is waging one of the most aggressive crackdowns on sports-event contracts in the country.

The Yankees became the latest to jump on the bandwagon when they announced an official partnership with Polymarket on August 6. That deal includes branding at Yankee Stadium, broadcast-visible home-plate signage, and fan experiences.

With the deal signed, the Yankees are now part of a growing group of New York sports organizations with prediction-market partnerships that go well beyond just adding a logo to a sponsor page.

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WSEX Co-Founder Jay Cohen on the Sportsbook That Saw the Future of Modern Sports Betting

WSEX Co-Founder Jay Cohen on the Sportsbook That Saw the Future of Modern Sports Betting

Before DraftKings and FanDuel, before Kalshi and Polymarket, there was Jay Cohen and World Sports Exchange.

When the gambling industry looks back on its modern roots, the conversation often begins with the Supreme Court striking down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act in 2018, opening the door for states to legalize sports betting.

From there, it often turns to the rise of DraftKings and FanDuel, the normalization of sportsbook advertising, and the legal fights that will ultimately determine the future of prediction markets.

Cohen sees it differently.

Back in 1996, Cohen, Steve Schillinger, and Haden Ware launched World Sports Exchange, better known as WSEX, from the small Eastern Caribbean island of Antigua.

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Former Betway Director Jon Russell: U.S. is Asking the Wrong Question About Prediction Markets

Former Betway Director Jon Russell: U.S. is Asking the Wrong Question About Prediction Markets

Watching the prediction markets fight unfold, it’s clear there’s no shortage of moving parts.

It has a crowded cast. There are state regulators, tribal gaming leaders, federal agencies, sportsbooks, and platforms trying to defend a business model that cuts across old regulatory lines.

From lawsuits and cease-and-desist orders to a larger fight over who gets to decide what these products actually are, the plot has plenty of conflict. But for all the drama and debate, what may be missing is a rearview mirror.

Jon Russell, a veteran sports-trading and integrity executive, has seen parts of this movie before.

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Prediction Markets: Trading, Gambling, or Both? Why the Debate Matters for Consumer Protections

Prediction Markets: Trading, Gambling, or Both? Why the Debate Matters for Consumer Protections

Ask ten people about prediction markets, and you’ll likely get ten different answers.

To some, they’re nothing more than sportsbooks dressed up in financial clothing. To others, they’re sophisticated tools for hedging real-world risk.

However, for the average user, the experience is much less abstract. For them, it’s simply this: put your money on an uncertain outcome, cross your fingers, and hope for the best.

Prediction markets have experienced rapid growth over the last year, with Kalshi and Polymarket reaching multibillion-dollar valuations.

As they continue to expand into sports and other consumer-facing categories, the debate over what prediction markets really are, and what protections they owe their users, is becoming harder to ignore.

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