I think it is safe to say that this is a divisive issue with no objective answer. Here is some perspective:

1. Prediction Markets (auger) are worth as much as STEEM
2. Steem has the potential to offer more accessible form of prediction markets than auger
3. The current implementation is dangerously close to a cleverly disguised vote-buying strategy which Hive account@bitcoindoom recently outlined the potential consequences of an upvote only system.
4. I have previously stated that if Hive account@steemsports has significant value, then it should be baked into the protocol, made provably fair, and have the overhead slashed.

At the very least, I think steemit.com needs to organize content and display it in ways that are optimized for the use case.