--- title: "In Article About Horrific Shooting That Killed Eight Children, Forbes Lets Readers Place Bets About Gun Control" description: "In a story about a mass shooting that left eight children dead, Forbes is encouraging readers to bet on the news with fake money." date: "2026-04-20" modified: "2026-04-20" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/future-society/forbes-mass-shooting-bets-gun-control" categories: - "Blockchain" - "Cryptocurrency" - "Finance" - "Future Society" --- # In Article About Horrific Shooting That Killed Eight Children, Forbes Lets Readers Place Bets About Gun Control ![A silver handgun is surrounded by and intertwined with numerous orange poker chips with white and blue accents, set against a gradient background transitioning from black at the top to blue at the bottom. The poker chips appear to be in motion, cascading around the gun.]() *Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Getty Images* Eight children were murdered in a horrific mass shooting in Shreveport, Louisiana over the weekend. *Forbes* published an [article]() about the violent killings — and, alongside that reporting, included a prediction game widget that encouraged readers to place bets on upcoming gun control regulation. The incident, which was first caught by cryptocurrency journalist and researcher Molly White and [shared to Bluesky](), was the result of "ForbesPredict," a prediction market-lite feature that *Forbes* integrated into its platform earlier this year. Underneath a chunk of text describing the Shreveport gunman, a 31-year-old named Shamar Elkins, a ForbesPredict box appears. It implores readers to "make your prediction" on "gun policy," asking whether they believe "Congress WILL pass new gun safety legislation before 31st December 2026." ![A "ForbesPredict" box encouraging Forbes readers to place gamified bets based on news about murdered children.]() When we clicked the question mark next to the feature's beta-testing warning, we were greeted with a graphic declaring that ForbesPredict is where "readers predict the future — not money." "Wager coins (never real money) on what happens next," reads the box. "Double down when you're confident. Flip your call when the story changes." ![A graphic explaining that "ForbesPredict" is designed to encourage readers to place faux bets on news events.]() Like the disclaimer says, unlike explosively popular prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi, ForbesPredict doesn't take real money. It does, though, transform the news into a prediction market-adjacent betting game, where readers are encouraged to bet faux coins on real news events for rewards. (Using fake money allows ForbesPredict to circumvent regulatory burden, as the company explains in a [press release]() about the feature.) In a [January interview with *Digiday*](), *Forbes* chief innovation officer Nina Gould described ForbesPredict as the "gamification of following a story." "Having a layer of sentiment data from our audience available to us and aligned with our content is actually extremely valuable for us in terms of first-party data, in terms of how we might create different segments from our audiences, how we might sell advertising against our content," she said in the interview. "You can really look at creating segments about people who feel positively or negatively about a particular topic, a particular company, things like that." Why a story about murdered children would be an appropriate venue for "gamification" of real news by way of Monopoly money — and what value that offers readers — is unclear. ForbesPredict was created by a company called Axiom, which is [described on LinkedIn]() as "bridging media and prophecy." Axiom CEO Jeffrey Yam sits on *Forbes*' board. "We're building the prediction layer for media," Yam said in a [press release]() that billed ForbesPredict as "A First-Of-Its-Kind Prediction Platform Built For Media." Online condemnation of *Forbes'* inclusion of its prediction game in the context of a mass shooting of children has been swift and intense. "Ghoulish," White wrote in her original post. Another user [issued]() a similarly one-worded admonition of the feature: "Dystopian." "I hate it here," another replier [added](). We reached out to *Forbes* for comment, but didn't immediately hear back. Hours after we published this story, *Forbes* removed the ForbesPredict poll from the article. "We don't know everything about how our audience is going to interact with this," Gould conceded to *Digiday*. "We are open to learning." **More on prediction markets and media:** *[Google Says Showing Polymarket Bets on Google News Was a Mistake]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()