When FanDuel and CME Group launched their joint-venture prediction market app in December, CME Group president Lynne Fitzpatrick specifically touted how the product would “enable a new generation of users to express their views” on sports, among other topics.
CME didn’t express any public misgivings about sports being included in FanDuel Predicts, even though sports wasn’t part of the partnership’s initial plan shared in August.
The vibes have changed dramatically, and without explanation, since then.
On CME’s earnings call Wednesday, CEO Terry Duffy criticized prediction market wagers related to sports events and suggested it is problematic for companies to use affiliated market makers on exchanges in which they have a financial interest. Those remarks came despite CME’s continued participation in facilitating sports wagers.
Duffy’s comments came less than 24 hours after the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the federal agency that oversees prediction markets, certified three wager types proposed by CME: bets on tennis tournaments, golf tournaments and college football games.
