All posts tagged: bet

Bet on Basquiat and Monet with Kalshi

Bet on Basquiat and Monet with Kalshi

Published by Jenni Sidey

So-called prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket—sites for online gambling, though the companies say they are a form of derivatives trading—have gamified modern life to a previously unforeseen degree. Users can bet not only on events bettors have traditionally gambled on, like sports, but also on bizarrely trivial matters like whether US president Donald Trump will use the expressions “big beautiful bill” or “rigged election” at the annual Thanksgiving turkey pardon. They can take a position on other seemingly comical but potentially hugely consequential outcomes too, like whether the US government will confirm the existence of alien life by the year 2027. On a darker note, some successful bets on life-and-death events such as war in Iran and the abduction of former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro have raised questions about whether bettors are trading on insider knowledge. Source link

Spotify’s AI bet: more of everything, less of what you want

Spotify’s AI bet: more of everything, less of what you want

Published by Miika Tikkanen

Spotify was a music app at one time. Then it added podcasts. Then audiobooks. Now the company is piling AI features into its app at a pace that can feel overwhelming. The latest wave, announced at its investor day, skews heavily toward using AI to generate content rather than using AI to help users find content they actually want. Until now, Spotify has been largely a platform for human-created content — music, podcasts, and audiobooks. As it adds AI-powered tools to generate all of those formats, the app is poised to look very different. That shift is also creating friction — AI can now produce music faster than Spotify can manage it. Last year, the company was criticized for not properly labeling AI music. Following that backlash, Spotify changed its policy and adopted the DDEX industry standard — a widely used labeling system for identifying AI-generated tracks — for its catalog. Now Spotify has signed a deal with Universal Music Group (UMG) that allows fans to create AI covers and remixes of existing songs. While …

How To Bet On Kentucky Derby 2026 in Georgia | Georgia Sportsbooks

How To Bet On Kentucky Derby 2026 in Georgia | Georgia Sportsbooks

Published by Miika Tikkanen

Looking to get in on the action for the 152nd “Run for the Roses”? While the Peach State has its own unique landscape for gambling, finding the best Georgia sports betting value for the 2026 Kentucky Derby is easier than ever. We have curated the top-rated sportsbooks that offer massive bonuses, sharp odds on the field, and deep prop markets that you won’t find anywhere else. How To Bet On The Kentucky Derby In Georgia To secure the best odds and biggest rebates for the 152nd Derby at Churchill Downs, follow these steps to get your bankroll ready before post time: Click here to join BetOnline Deposit and claim your bonus of up to $250 Place your bets on the Kentucky Derby Best Georgia Sportsbooks For Kentucky Derby Betting Georgia bettors have several top tier options when it comes to horse racing and sports wagering. These platforms are the gold standard for 2026: BetOnline – $250 Welcome Bonus + 9% Daily Horse Rebate Lucky Rebel – 125% Deposit Match up to $3,000 BetNow – 125% …

Peter Thiel’s big bet on solar-powered cow collars

Peter Thiel’s big bet on solar-powered cow collars

Published by Miika Tikkanen

Founders Fund has made its name backing what Peter Thiel calls “zero to one” companies — businesses that don’t just improve on existing ideas but create something entirely new. Its portfolio includes Facebook, SpaceX, and Palantir. Its latest bet is a New Zealand startup that puts solar-powered smart collars on cows. Halter, which closed a $220 million Series E at a $2 billion valuation last month, with Founders Fund leading the round, isn’t the kind of company that tends to dominate technology headlines. There is no agentic AI involved, no humanoid robots. There is, however, a very large and largely unsolved problem: How do you manage cattle spread across some of the most remote terrain on earth, without dogs, horses, motorbikes, or helicopters? Craig Piggott, Halter’s 30-year-old founder and CEO, has spent nine years working on an answer. “If you manage a pasture-based farm, whether it’s dairy or beef, the most important variable is how you manage the productivity of your land,” Piggott told TechCrunch in a recent interview. “Fences are the lever — they …

This Looks Like a Kalshi Insider Bet on Aliens

This Looks Like a Kalshi Insider Bet on Aliens

Published by Daniella Wilson

On Monday night, someone placed a peculiar bet on the prediction market Kalshi. At 7:45 p.m. eastern time, a single trader put down nearly $100,000 on the claim that, by the end of December, the Trump administration will confirm that alien life or technology exists elsewhere in our universe. According to The Atlantic’s review of Kalshi’s trading data, about 35 minutes after this bet was executed, it was followed by another that was almost twice as large (possibly from the same person). These were market-moving events: For one brief stretch, the market appeared to think that there was at least a one-in-three chance that the U.S. government will announce the existence of aliens this year. Perhaps this was just some overexcited UFO diehard with a hunch and money to burn. Or maybe, as some observers quickly noted, it was a trader with inside knowledge. When this alien-prediction market first opened, in December of last year, it didn’t attract much action: By early this month, only about $1 million had been traded on it, a pittance …

Stripe, PayPal Ventures bet on India’s Xflow to fix cross-border B2B payments

Stripe, PayPal Ventures bet on India’s Xflow to fix cross-border B2B payments

Published by Miika Tikkanen

Xflow, an Indian fintech startup, has secured backing from both Stripe and PayPal Ventures in a $16.6 million funding round. The investment comes as the company works to carve out a position in cross-border B2B payments, a market still dominated by banks and manual processes. The Series A round was led by General Catalyst, with participation from existing investors Square Peg, Stripe, Lightspeed, and Moore Capital, while PayPal Ventures joined as a new backer. The all-equity round values the Bengaluru-based startup at $85 million post-investment and brings its total funding to more than $32 million to date. Despite rapid digitization in domestic payments, cross-border B2B transfers for Indian exporters remain heavily reliant on banks, often with limited visibility into fees, settlement timelines, and the final amount received in rupees. The friction is particularly acute for larger exporters moving millions of dollars into India to fund salaries and local operations, creating an opening for fintech infrastructure players such as Xflow that promise greater transparency and speed in international money movement. Founded in 2021, Xflow provides cross-border …

NCAA has its prop bet ban request sunk by Missouri watchdog

NCAA has its prop bet ban request sunk by Missouri watchdog

Published by Miika Tikkanen

Missouri gambling regulators have rejected the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) request to block prop bets on college games. With months of fiascos surrounding the style of betting and college-level games, it comes as a surprise that the ban wasn’t implemented. The NCAA claims that there’s been a rise in harassment by bettors, as well as pointing to insider information being used to profit via gambling. Another implication of keeping prop bets around is that college students have been found to have bet on themselves, manipulating the game for their own gain. Despite providing data and examples of issues that have cropped up, the Missouri Gaming Commission (MGC) rejected the NCAA’s request. If the MGC had agreed to amend its sports betting rules, it could have put an end to some manipulation of games. So why did the MGC reject the proposition? It comes down to how fresh legal gambling is in the state. Sports betting was just allowed on December 1, 2025, and the Commission argues that it’s still too new to begin amending …

Nikki Glaser proved to be the Golden Globes’ safest bet

Nikki Glaser proved to be the Golden Globes’ safest bet

Published by Sam Flores

The Golden Globes need a host about as much as people who truly love movies and television need the Golden Globes — which is to say, not at all.  Proof of that is in the award show’s history. For nearly all of the first four decades of its existence, and between 1996 and 2009, Hollywood’s most inebriated night of back-slapping stumbled forth without a couture-clad shepherd to guide it. Then, in 2010, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association made Ricky Gervais its returning ringmaster and things went up before plummeting sharply downhill from there. Cut to 2026, and a point in history when the world feels horrendously upside down. The 83rd Globes is coming off a week where America’s president bragged about overthrowing Venezuela’s regime to claim its oil, and an ICE agent gunned down an unarmed American citizen and mother of three in Minneapolis. So, as a roomful of wealthy, famous people gathered to congratulate themselves on their artistic accomplishments, second-time Globes host Nikki Glaser proved that the show needs her more than she or …