The sustainability of prediction markets depends heavily on continuous liquidity provision - without bots and market makers, spreads would widen and user experience would degrade quickly
Gambling was already very popular, but since the lockdown, the industry has grown exponentially. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/391887687_The_Strat... - the research contains figures and forecasts for the next few years - and they’re quite impressive
Yes, only ~3% of bettors are net profitable, but more important is lifetime value (LTV) vs. customer acquisition cost (CAC). With CAC around $300 and average losses at $100/year, it takes three years of retention just to break even per casual bettor. If the average retention drops below that, sportsbooks lose money on the majority of customers, even if most are losers