Seems pretty damn brilliant to me. Gamblers LOVE Forex. I can't even count the number of excellent poker players I know who pissed it all away either there or day trading.
I agree with your assertion that skill probably has little or no effect on that game in the short run (and hell, maybe not even in the long) but people tend to credit skill wherever they win and luck wherever they lose. Anything with sufficient volatility will satisfy people's desire for both.
That said, I don't think they're in the same market we are, and I don't think they'll be too successful. Forex is far too esoteric for the common man, even with nice little animations of foot races, and probably too unpredictable for most of the rest. I don't know how many people read The Economist, but their target audience is some subset of that.
I agree with your assertion that skill probably has little or no effect on that game in the short run (and hell, maybe not even in the long) but people tend to credit skill wherever they win and luck wherever they lose. Anything with sufficient volatility will satisfy people's desire for both.
That said, I don't think they're in the same market we are, and I don't think they'll be too successful. Forex is far too esoteric for the common man, even with nice little animations of foot races, and probably too unpredictable for most of the rest. I don't know how many people read The Economist, but their target audience is some subset of that.