Investor Lawyers Blog
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia alleging that online betting market Intrade and associated companies violated the Commodities Exchange Act by facilitating illegal off-exchange trading in options contracts. The complaint is accessible below.
Intrade operates an online “prediction market” trading website through which customers buy or sell what are technically options contracts enabling customers to wager whether certain events will occur. The subject matters of the wagers range from political elections to whether NASA will announce the discovery of extraterrestrial life. Certain of the Intrade contacts, including
Bettors who predict that an event will occur buy shares in Intrade, and those who predict the event will not occur sell shares. If the event occurs, bettors who bought shares receive $10. If the event does not occur, bettors who sold shares must pay $10. The “price” of each share represents the percentage likelihood of an event occurring based on the collective wisdom of all bettors in a particular options contract or wager.