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Intrade Shutdown Hurts Academics

Posted by timothy on from the odds-are-against-immediate-return dept.

New submitter jader3rd writes "Intrade, a popular Irish website that lets people bet on anything, has shut down. In addition to being used by gamblers, Intrade has been used by academics and pundits to track public sentiment. '"... broad crowds have a lot of information and that markets are an effective way of aggregating that information," says Justin Wolfers, "and they often turn out to be much better than experts."' Being forced to lose their U.S. customers couldn't have helped.

8 of 131 comments (clear)

  1. The question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The question isn't whether other people "should have" the right to gamble.

    The question is whether YOU should have the right to employ violence (meaning physical force or threat thereof) against other people in an attempt to stop them from gambling.

    Now that the question has been properly rephrased, it can be properly answered.

    1. Re:The question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Come see the violence inherent in the system!

    2. Re:The question by Aglassis · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It is actually a more general question. The question is whether the government has the right to use force (i.e. the police busting into your house with a SWAT team and shooting your dog) to prevent a person from doing an act that harms nobody but themselves or another fully consenting and knowledgeable adult. Drugs, polygamy, gambling, legal age prostitution, etc., could all be arguably classified under victim-less crimes. And not surprisingly, all of these are crimes against morality (except when there in a financial interest such as the lottery or alcohol sales).

      --
      Suddenly, the hairy finger of a familiar monkey tapped me on the shoulder. It was time.--G. T.
    3. Re:The question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What a stupid argument. Make something criminal and then complain that it gets associated with other criminal activities, so it's alright it's criminal. Complete circular nonsense.

    4. Re:The question by Aglassis · · Score: 5, Insightful

      An acquaintance of mine whose husband snorted both of their entire retirement funds up his nose might question that. So might a friend whose father consistently gambled away most of his take home pay. There's more to consider than just the direct participants.

      Yes, but you are using today's drug math. If cocaine wasn't illegal, it wouldn't be so expensive. And if it was well regulated, the dosage could be monitored.

      But what if he blew his money on the stock market or a crazy investment? There are a million stupid ways people lose their retirement savings. You can't put people in plastic balls to protect themselves from everything in the world and you don't need to burn down crops and indirectly fund insurgencies in Colombia because some asshole snorted cocaine. It is amazing that you talk about considering people other than the direct participants while supporting the War on Drugs.

      --
      Suddenly, the hairy finger of a familiar monkey tapped me on the shoulder. It was time.--G. T.
  2. Extremely vague article by schneidafunk · · Score: 5, Informative

    You're better off going to intrade's website here for information: http://www.intrade.com/

    " With sincere regret we must inform you that due to circumstances recently discovered we must immediately cease trading activity on www.intrade.com.

    These circumstances require immediate further investigation, and may include financial irregularities which in accordance with Irish law oblige the directors to take the following actions:

    Cease exchange trading on the website immediately.
    Settle all open positions and calculate the settled account value of all Member accounts immediately.
    Cease all banking transactions for all existing Company accounts immediately.


    During the upcoming weeks, we will investigate these circumstances further and determine the necessary course of action.

    To mitigate any further risk to members’ accounts, we have closed and settled all open contracts at fair market value as of the close of business on March 10, 2013, in accordance with the Terms and Conditions of our customers’ use of the website. You may view your account details and settled account balances by logging into the website.

    At this time and until further notice, it is not possible to make any payments to members in accordance with their settled account balance until the investigations have concluded.

    The Company will continue the maintenance and technology operations of the exchange system so that all information is preserved properly.

    We are not able to provide telephone support or live help services at this time, please contact the company by email at: accountservices@intrade.com

    We appreciate your custom and support over the years. We are committed to reporting faithfully the status of things as they are clarified and hope you will bear with us as we do all we can to resume operations as promptly as possible.

    Sincerely,

    The Board of Directors of Intrade the Prediction Market Limited "

    --
    Some people die at 25 and aren't buried until 75. -Benjamin Franklin
  3. More info by schneidafunk · · Score: 5, Informative

    "The moves followed concerns raised by the company’s auditors over more than $1.5 million payments to Intrade’s founder, John Delaney, and other unnamed third parties. The transactions, according Intrade’s auditors, were not sufficiently documented."

    http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/03/11/online-betting-site-intrade-halts-operations/

    --
    Some people die at 25 and aren't buried until 75. -Benjamin Franklin
  4. Not the only one around, nor the oldest by pthisis · · Score: 5, Informative

    I never understood why Intrade got so much press--the Iowa Electronic Market has been doing the "online futures trading" thing for far longer. They're still up and running at: http://tippie.uiowa.edu/iem/

    And they have approval from the CTFC: http://www.cftc.gov/files/foia/repfoia/foirf0503b004.pdf

    --
    rage, rage against the dying of the light