DAVID MARCUS: Brave new world of prediction markets can make us all inside traders
The article argues that the rapid growth of prediction markets could expose ordinary participants to insider-trading risks, as people can wager on an expanding range of real-world events. It contends that markets run by companies such as Kalshi and Polymarket may make privileged information more valuable and harder to regulate.
The author contrasts today’s broad access to online betting with the more limited legal gambling options of the 1970s. He suggests that prediction markets can be created for even minor events, increasing the number of people who may possess or seek non-public information relevant to a wager.
- Prediction markets may create wider insider-information risks.
- The author says regulation has not kept pace.
- Online betting now covers increasingly niche events.