Yes, I understand this critique.

Although I for one do not gamble, I do find prediction markets quite interesting for gauging the development of current events. Of course, having skin in a game and benefiting from a specific outcome may yield some problems (c.f. e.g. Obituary tv series ;) ), but in a society where it gets increasingly difficult to gather data using surveys etc. (for different reasons), prediction markets may serve multiple purposes, of which not all are necessarily bad.