RAKSHA Vasudevan

On January 8, 2025, as the Palisades fire consumed the neighborhoods perched on the hills above Los Angeles, a website called Polymarket rushed to open a series of betting markets on the disaster. Users could wager on anything from how many acres would burn by Friday to when the blaze would reach Santa Monica. Some of the pools climbed past $100,000.

By the time Marisol García Alcántara learned that her mother, Paula, wanted to return home to Mexico City, the two women had been trading off responsibilities for decades. It started when Paula got a job as a housecleaner and Marisol had to leave seventh grade to care for her younger brothers and sisters.