Nick Devor

Is America in a shoplifting epidemic? Or was it a crime panic ginned up by the powerful and ultimately successful lobby group the National Retail Federation? That, plus everything you ever wanted to know about self checkout, today in @slate. slate.com/life/2026/07/s…

@Cait_Cavell On newsstands until next Saturday!!

@nickdevor_ I would frame this in my house

It's a great day to find a print edition of Barron's and read about gambling while admiring this beautiful photograph!

@Cait_Cavell unionize @BoysClubWorld

had a dream i got fired for not using claude. i need to log off

FOS reports that Rob Gronkowski has recorded a video for FanDuel VIPs, and sports TV personality Kay Adams has called VIP bettors. “In the VIP space, people play pretty loose and free with how they secure their clients being happy,” an FOS source says.

@oaktoebark @Kalshi Direct from Kalshi PR

@nickdevor_ @Kalshi where is the M/F data coming from?

NEW: Love Island prediction markets are driving women to @Kalshi. According to the firm: - Its Love Island markets have three times more female traders than male traders - That demographic split is reversed across the platform; 26% of Kalshi’s users are women, roughly double the share from a year ago - Among new users on the platform whose first trade was in a Love Island market, two-thirds are women, according to Kalshi. The current season of Love Island USA began on June 2. Kalshi’s female weekly active users on mobile devices rose 106% from June 8 to June 28, compared with a 54% increase among male users, according to a report from consumer-data research firm Apptopia.

@Inc x.com/nickdevor_/sta…

Victoria Salves of @Inc plagiarized a story I wrote yesterday about Kalshi and Love Island. Her article on the left, mine on the right. The dates in the highlighted text weren't in the Apptopia report. I got them from the report's author, who says they never spoke to Victoria.

Inc apologized and updated their article.

FanDuel sent a personal message from Phillies star Bryce Harper to a customer with a gambling addiction ebx.sh/sd4WIZ

Here's a quote from a source in the story who downloaded Kalshi specifically for LI markets: “It’s a gateway into it. Once you’re on it and you understand how to do the betting, you do end up betting on other stuff,” Juras says. “Basically, I’m taking my Love Island winnings and then betting on the World Cup, and then losing.” so they got at least one! lol

@nickdevor_ @Kalshi Yes just mostly wondering if they’re actually acquiring said customers

@medeana @Kalshi $53m lifetime on Love Island markets, per company spox. More about customer acquisition

@nickdevor_ @Kalshi What’s the volume looking like

Read the full story here: barrons.com/articles/love-…

@Nostroah Source for those estimates?

Estimates suggest that 70% to 90% of total trading volume in modern commodity futures markets is speculative (not hedging or transfer of risk). Prediction markets will be no different, and that's okay.

Read my full deep-dive into the gamblification of trading cards for free here: barrons.com/articles/pokem…

When 6-year-old Champ Stutts saw an online video about a rare rookie card for Pittsburgh Pirates’ pitcher Paul Skenes, he asked his dad if they could try to find it. Father and son eventually pulled a different, though still rare Skenes card. In a viral video the family posted to TikTok, Champ is overwhelmed with excitement: “I can’t breathe!” Last month, the Stuttses posted another TikTok of Champ and his brother Maverick, age 3, sitting in their car seats with trading cards scattered across their laps. “We just bought these boxes at Walmart, and we could not wait to rip them at home, so we ripped them in the truck,” Champ says into the camera. “And you cannot believe what my brother hit!” Scratch-off lotto tickets at bodegas in New York City now sit next to Pokémon cards. Unlike the lottery tickets, there’s no minimum-age requirement to buy Pokémon cards. And yet experts now see similarities between opening a pack of trading cards and the rush that accompanies traditional gambling. Every pack holds the promise of a million-dollar find. The boom in trading cards is powered by a social media ecosystem that treats all kinds of trading cards more like financial assets than expressions of fandom. “There’s a lot of content on social media that seems to perpetuate the commodification of Pokémon cards and the likelihood that kids will take this to an unhealthy place,” says Andrew Tepper, a psychotherapist in upstate New York. A study published in February in the Psychology of Addictive Behaviors research journal found that “spending money on physical card packs containing random cards of varying value offered by collectible and trading card games is linked to problem gambling.”

We're incredibly grateful to @nickdevor_ and @barronsonline for featuring Collectors MD and helping bring national attention to an important conversation that has gone largely overlooked. As the hobby continues to evolve, it's more important than ever to have honest, evidence-informed discussions about the ways collecting environments can influence behavior - for both adults and young collectors. Awareness isn't about taking the fun out of collecting. It's about helping people engage more intentionally, recognize risk, and know that support exists when the hobby starts taking more than it gives. Thank you to the Barron's team for shining a light on this important and pressing issue, and for helping amplify the mission of Collectors MD. barrons.com/articles/pokem…

@amazon, @Microsoft & @Google data centers get labeled as "standard buildings" in India—exempting them from public hearings. Without the power to voice concerns, Indians, unlike U.S. locals, aren't allowed a fair fight. My deep dive for @barronsonline barrons.com/articles/ai-da…

CNBC: “[OpenAI] wouldn’t be the first with bad financial profiles to go public.” @edzitron: “They’d be the first to be this bad.” cnbc.com/video/2026/07/…