Suppose, casinos in Las Vegas or Nevada were unregulated and government never checked to see it they were cheating the public. In such a case, what are the chances gambling establishments would cheat the public? For example, would the casinos load their dice? What are the chances organized crime would take over all of the gambling establishments? I am guessing both of those things would happen, why wouldn’t they?
But, all of the casinos are highly regulated, so the public gets exactly what they are promised from a gambling establishment.

Today, the largest financial institutions in the world gamble for profit in the securities markets. Virtually all of the trading on the securities exchanges involves very short term trades. Trades lasting less than a minute and sometimes seconds and fractions of a second are the rule rather than the exception. Are they allowed to cheat as in rig the markets? Of course not, but why wouldn’t they? There is no risk in doing so.
The large financial institutions are in fact gambling establishments, but unlike licensed gambling establishments, they don’t have to prove they are not cheating. If they are ever questioned, no one in the government is smart enough to understand their trading algorithms. With this situation, government is giving the general public a very bad deal.
So, do you think the stock market is rigged? Of course it is. The eventual result will be the destruction of our capital markets. The cost to every day Americans will be their living standard.