Agree that anything that looks like a COVID deadpool, or trading on misery, is bad for reputation. Like the idea of meme betting though of course that is far too open to manipulation unless you have a bullet-proof approach in mind.
On your point about creating odds, it really depends if there is data on which to create even a loose market. We'll get picked off early on by those who really know the domain but soon enough, by the magical process of the wisdom of the crowd, the true odds will be found.
Yes,,, I know people like to bet on "bad things",,, for me politics or competitions are where we should draw the line but betting on how bad economies are or how soon lockdown will end feels like we are taking advantage of a bad situation.
I was thinking, big meme site like 9gag maybe and just select 10 or 20 memes, and the one that is most popular after 30 days from the date, maybe that? 9gag is too big to manipulate. Or use a Google search term popularity, probably even harder to manipulate.