US Election and Sports Betting With Derivatives Face Ban by CFTC
- CFTC proposes clamping down on so-called events contracts
- Plan further dashes bid to allow betting on November elections
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A top financial regulator took a major step toward directly banning derivatives from being used to bet on political contests and sports games — throwing up another hurdle for those hoping to wager on November’s US election.
The proposal Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission would crack down on so-called event contracts. Those binary options have been used to bet legally on real-world outcomes such as monetary policy, lunar landings and music awards and are of increasing interest to Wall Street.