What a prediction market is
Shares that pay $1 if you are right. Prices that are probabilities.
A prediction market turns a question into something tradeable. Will BTC be higher in three minutes? Will France win the match? Each question becomes a market with two sides: YES and NO.
A YES share pays exactly $1 if the event happens and $0 if it does not. That single rule creates everything else. If YES trades at 62 cents, the market is saying: this event is about 62% likely. Prices are probabilities wearing a dollar sign.
Why this is different from betting
Against a bookmaker, you bet against the house at prices the house sets with a built-in margin. In a prediction market you trade at market prices, you can exit before the outcome by selling, and your counterparty is the market itself.
The skill is not predicting the future perfectly. It is noticing when the price disagrees with reality. If you think an outcome is 50/50 and the market charges 65 cents, you do not need a crystal ball; you need the discipline to take the other side.