Washington, DC – In the wake of a decision by a federal commission to allow wagering on motion picture box-office numbers, a broad entertainment industry coalition charged today that the gaming plans were “no more than over-under bets on a movie’s performance” and urged Congress to finalize the ban already approved by the Senate.
Despite opposition from the Directors Guild of America (DGA), the Independent Film and Television Alliance (IFTA), the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and its member companies, and the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) approved a request from Media Derivatives, Inc. (MDEX) to create a designated contract market for the trading of financial derivatives based on box-office number futures.
