This webinar addresses the unique authority Congress gave the CFTC in the Dodd-Frank Act to review event contracts – contracts relating to terrorism, assassination, war, gaming, and activities that are illegal under state or federal law – and to prohibit them if the CFTC determines they do not serve the public interest. This special authority raises many issues that were brought to light most recently by an unsuccessful submission from ErisX, a designated contract market, to list futures contracts on NFL football games. This webinar focuses on some of those issues, including the history of the CFTC’s treatment of gaming contracts; the differences between the statute and the regulation the CFTC adopted to implement its statutory authority; the scope and nature of the CFTC’s public interest inquiry; and the definition of “gaming,” the type of event contract that the CFTC is mostly likely to be dealing with in the years ahead with the advent of prediction markets. In addition, the panelists briefly draw comparisons between CFTC’s, States’ and SEC’s jurisdictional authorities.
