You can bet on pretty much anything these day. The weather, alien abductions, who will be Kim Kardashian’s next boyfriend.has proposed a rule that would ban betting on terrorism, assassination, war, activity that is illegal under federal or state law and gaming -- which includes the outcome of political races and awards contests, such as the Emmy’s and Oscars and the outcome of a game where one or more athletes compete or an occurrence or non-occurrence in connection with such a game.
“Contracts involving political events ultimately commoditize and degrade the integrity of the uniquely American experience of participating in the democratic electoral process,” Behnam said. “Allowing these contracts would push the CFTC, a financial market regulator, into a position far beyond its Congressional mandate and expertise. To be blunt, such contracts would put the CFTC in the role of an election cop.
The CFTC was sued recently by online marketplaces, including PredictIt, which the CFTC tried to shut down, and New York-based exchange KalshiEx, whose application to list event contracts was rejected, Reuters reported. Cantrell Dumas, director of derivatives policy at Better Markets, a nonprofit promoting public interest in financial markets, supports the proposal.