Wanna Make a Bet? What Businesses Should Know About Insider Trading and the Prediction Markets

Global prediction markets are booming. Trading volumes reached a record US$24 billion in April this year, heavily driven by excitement over the FIFA World Cup and sports betting. But with that expansive growth come risks. Recent high-profile cases alleging insider trading related to the markets have alarmed businesses over the fear employees could exploit their nonpublic information for personal gain. Regulators have taken notice, and enforcement is on the rise.

How can businesses protect themselves from insiders who might use the prediction markets for ill gain? How significant is the enforcement and regulatory impact on companies? And what’s on the horizon as the prediction markets continue to captivate the public?

Join The Sidley Podcast host and Sidley partner, Sam Gandhi, as he speaks with two of the firm’s thought leaders on these issues — Ian McGinley, a partner in Sidley’s Securities Enforcement and Regulatory and White Collar Defense and Investigations practices and a former Commodity Futures Trading Commission director of enforcement, and Matthew Podolsky, also a partner in Sidley’s Securities Enforcement and Regulatory and White Collar Defense and Investigations practices. Matt is a former acting United States attorney for the Southern District of New York and former chief of their Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force. Together, they discuss the exponential growth of the prediction markets, what is driving that growth, and the real-world risks of insider trading prosecutions related to engaging with those markets.

Executive Producer: John Metaxas, WallStreetNorth Communications, Inc.