I watch a lot of YouTube videos and what I watch is mostly focused on investing, finance, taxes, or related material but I’ve noticed a disturbing trend lately some of the YouTubers I follow to be pushing what I consider to be gambling “investment” opportunities.
Masterworks
The first site I saw from a reputable YouTuber was Masterworks. This is a website that allows you to “invest” in art work. As far as I understand it, you buy “shares” or “fractions” of an artwork and if it appreciates in value and is sold, you keep a portion of the profits. The website boasts nearly 1 million members and $1 billion in capital raised. Some of the listed gains/returns look impressive but I couldn’t find any hard statistics on transaction flow and total returns.
Kalshi
A different YouTuber had a plug for Kalshi. This website seems like a straight out “bookie” to make bets on almost anything in the news. Some of the bets are on Jaime Dimon leaving Chase, Fed Funds rate hike in September, number of hurricanes this year, and Scottish referendum called before 2027.
FanDuel & Draftkings
These sites seem to be straight out gambling on sports and what really interests me with these isn’t gambling but their stock values and potential for growth. Draftkings stock has grown nearly 300% in 5 years and I suspect it may continue to grow higher and faster. The big drawback and risk, in my opinion, is in Congress changing their mind on allowing these types of gambling sites and banning them or regulating them. Note: I haven’t seen this on YouTube just everywhere else on the internet.
Conclusion
I wrote about Yotta bank not too long ago and the proliferation of these sites make me wonder if we’ll have a repeat of what happened with that situation elsewhere. The only one of the sites I may test out is Kalshi because it seems to be the lowest capital intensive and easiest to use. If I do decide to play with it, I will follow up in a future post.
Share The Wealth
What do you think? Are any of these sites enticing you to try them out? Let me know in the comments below.