You know, I didn't expect the Insider Trading Casinos to be quite so brazenly evil. I really thought they'd have wanted to keep a lower profile, and not appear so urgently in need of being regulated or sued out of existence. They even had the template of "Sports Betting" to work from.

How is such bets any different than options trading? If one is reasonable I don't see why the other would be that much different.

It seems like a case where betting can actually save lives and steer people towards the best solutions. They are worried that workers will tamper with results to make trails fail for a quick buck. If that’s possible they need better observation practices and for these workers to go to jail. But I doubt anyone offended by this betting believes these perverse incentives. Deep down what they are offended by is the unfortunate fact that drugs do fail. But the solution is to allocate resources thoughtfully and fairly to the best candidates, and I’m not seeing how betting interferes with that

To be fair buying securities or derivatives ahead of a pharma results announcement is pretty common already.

Not to excuse these guys for all their other awfulness of course.