As Prediction Markets Grow in Popularity, Some Fear 'Insider Trading.' What's Next?

Key Takeaways Someone profited handsomely after winning an unlikely short-term bet on Nicolás Maduro's fate. The win kicked off a round of intense scrutiny of prediction markets. How, the questions went, could they have known what would happen in Venezuela with such confidence? If they did know, did that amount to market manipulation? And if it did, how many more winners were trading on confidential information for their own gain? That paranoia—or, more charitably, the curiosity—appears to be percolating. O ...