Online Gambling by Another Name?

Online "predictive markets" do not share the heat that is online gambling's fortune. While online poker and the likes are in effect banned by US law, American politicians do not attack these websites.

The New York Times published an article by Paul McNamara of the IDG (International Date Group) that raised this issue.

The online predictive market website Intrade, which is based in Ireland, has seen hundreds of thousands of dollars placed in shares of John McCain's presidential elections winning chances. This has quickly been followed by such comments that this was"one of the most foolish investors in the world."

It was also followed by a statement by Intrade saying that this was the move of a single "institutional investor."

The clarification, though unsolicited, was just in place. It makes one wonder, the article implies, where does regulation come in when dealing with such predictive market websites. A further question is why online gambling is illegal while sites such as the onebased in Ireland are allowed. For wouldn't all websites and users alike benefit from a regulated industry?

That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, said the English Bard. Perhaps that is a hint for online gambling to baptize itself "online predictive markets."