Your 20s: risky bets, crypto hype, and meme stocks. 🎲 Sabrina Maddeaux and Mike Moffatt explain why being priced out of a home is turning saving into gambling — and why young men are taking the biggest swings.
In this episode of The Missing Middle – Classonomics, we unpack why a generation priced out of housing is turning to meme stocks, crypto, and online sports betting instead of traditional saving. Mike and Sabrina explore how the “gamification” of investing on your phone blurs the line between investing and gambling, why young men dominate high-risk trading, and what research tells us about the link between gambling, crypto, and financial stress.
The conversation introduces the idea of “financial nihilism” — when homeownership feels impossible, big bets can start to seem rational. They also debate solutions, from tighter gambling advertising rules to better financial education and, most importantly, fixing housing affordability. Is this risky behavior a cultural problem, a policy failure, or both? Watch to find out — and tell us in the comments if you’ve ever placed a big bet with your money.
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
01:10 The high-risk landscape
02:15 Personal experience with risk
03:00 Demographics of gamblers and investors
04:35 Gambling vs investing
05:30 The Risks of sports gambling & prediction markets
06:52 The difference between zero-sum and negative-sum behaviour
08:53 The link between gambling & crypto trading
11:01 How the culture of gambling is hurting young men
12:22 How the housing crisis leads to financial nihilism
14:22 How big risks start to become rational choices
15:38 The role of social media
16:24 YOLO spending and the gendered aspect of risky bets
17:50 Mike drops a hockey metaphor
19:23 Solutions: Regulation, education and home ownership
Research:
Canada Is Finally Regulating Stablecoins – Here’s Why It Matters
Cryptocurrency trading, gambling and problem gambling
"Giving Up": The Impact of Decreasing Housing Affordability on Consumption, Work Effort, and Investment
Newsletter Sabrina mentions:
1 big thing: Gen Z plays the economy like a casino
Are We Ignoring a Generation of Struggling Young Men?
All Bets Are On: The Rise of Prediction Markets
The Doom Spenders
polymarket.com Website Traffic Demographics
Gambling Statistics Canada 2026 – Unveiling Canada’s Gambling Landscape
Hosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina Maddeaux
Produced by Meredith Martin
This podcast is funded by the Neptis Foundation and brought to you by the Smart Prosperity Institute.
The Missing Middle Podcast 
