An innovative spin-off of online betting games is the trading of event contracts on a prediction market. One platform for such an exchange is Kalshi.

Kalshi lists real world events contracts that players can buy from one cent to one dollar, with a guess of “yes, it will happen” or “no, it won’t happen.” If the event specified in the purchased prediction contract happens, the buyer gets a $1 payout. Otherwise, he loses what he paid for the contract.

Kalshi player Gabriel Perez buys “mention market” contracts, where users predict whether a speaker will use common terms, such as specific countries, economic words, or campaign slogans, in March, BBC reports.

Perez placed bets on words US President Donald Trump would use during major public addresses, according to BBC, and has won more than $90,000 in payouts from Kalshi with his correct predictions.

However, the platform got suspicious of Perez’s winnings and found out he had inside knowledge of what words Trump would utter since he worked as a teleprompter operator at the White House.

Kalshi froze the payout before Perez could withdraw it for violating its rules against insider trading, BBC reports. The White House also put him on leave and said he would no longer work there.

Meanwhile, a Hong Kong security guard addicted to gambling incurred staggering losses betting on the 2026 World Cup soccer tournament in the US.

There are a variety of soccer match bets to be made online. The most common are wagers on which team will win a game or the entire tournament, and the winning margin of a team.

The gambler shared on Thread that he had been losing wagers continuously and had racked up a deficit of more than HK$300,000 well before the sporting event had concluded, The Standard (TS) reports.

He asked the public for solutions to his massive debt that shocked netizens and they advised him to immediately stop betting.

The security guard then stunned readers when he asked them what his next bet should be, according to TS.