Gamblers win millions off of Titan disaster

In the wake of the Titan exploration’s disaster, it has been discovered that over $300,000 was wagered over the mini submarine’s fate.

When the Titan submarine suffered a presumed water pressure-induced implosion, bets soon flooded in against numerous variables related to the submersible’s re-discovery or survival.

Winners and losers

Unfortunately, those who bet against the finding of the Titan sub and the passenger’s survival were far better off once the extensive search mission yielded debris from the vessel 1,600ft from the wreckage of RMS Titanic, the exploration’s subject.

This halted rescue efforts as in addition to this debris, the estimated available oxygen supply was believed to have run out on the 23rd of June, prior to the discovery.

Polymarket

The wagers in question were placed on the cryptocurrency platform, Polymarket, with many obscenely betting on instances such as the submersible never being found and the mortality of those on board.

Criticisms and condemnations

This wagering activity unsurprising drew heavy critical attention, particularly on the social media platform Twitter, where users condemned the gamblers for in no uncertain terms profiting off tragedy.

One such tweet read, ‘what stage of capitalism is investing in someone’s death,” and another ‘actually insane. Imagine making money off if someone is gonna die or not.’

Even a gambler who partook in the market claiming to have profited $3,250, had this to say on the matter:

The markets are fundamentally immoral. There’s no ethical consumption under capitalism.

Defences and rebuttals

Digressing from his earlier statements, the gambler in question also took the view that, unlike markets that are consistently accepted be immoral, such as buying defence or oil stocks, betting on the submersible had no effect on the outcome.

Polymarket also made this statement against the backlash:

If the families were privy to Polymarket, they could use the market as a way to obtain real-time, unbiased probability of the submarine being recovered.

The crypto market would go on to explain how this was a far more valuable service to the victim’s families than the media coverage that followed the submersible, invasively describing it as “sensationalist”. Arguing that Polymarket itself was proving true probabilities.

SiGMA Europe

SiGMA Europe will return this November, promising to be bigger and better than ever. Bringing a wildly diverse wealth of knowledge, industry leading innovations and insights along with a phenomena of premium networking opportunities.