From the gender of celebrity babies to the outcome of upcoming elections, it seems that practically every aspect of life today, including the weather, is fair game for a wager. (My boyfriend won $20 on Super Bowl Sunday by accurately predicting that Bad Bunny would kick off his halftime performance by singing “Tití Me Preguntó”.) For the March issue of Vanity Fair, Zoë Bernard interviewed the CEOs of Kalshi and Polymarket, the two startups at the center of the prediction-market craze, which she describes as “an experiment in collective intelligence with the potential to upend not only Wall Street but the inner workings of American democracy.”
Meanwhile, Natasha O’Neill breaks down all the juicy ice dancing drama at the 2026 Winter Olympics; Rebecca Ford takes us inside the annual Oscar nominees luncheon, which she calls “the most playful event of awards season”; and Julie Miller pays tribute to James Van Der Beek, who died Wednesday at age 48 after a three-year battle with colorectal cancer.
