ASIC chair raises concerns over prediction markets for retail clients

Australia's corporate regulator says no prediction market operator has applied for a license, and it doubts the products serve retail investors Australia’s top financial regulator has looked at prediction markets and is not convinced they belong in the hands of everyday investors. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) doubts that retail prediction markets serve the public interest. The position came into sharper focus on October 29, 2026. ASIC Chair Sarah Court told a parliamentary hearing that the regulator has not received a single application from a prediction market operator seeking to run services in Australia. Treated like binary options, which is not a compliment Any future application from a prediction market operator would be assessed in a similar way to binary options. That comparison carries real weight in Australia. Binary options are banned for retail clients until October 1, 2031. They pay out on an all-or-nothing basis: you either collect the full payoff or lose your stake. Prediction markets share that same structure, and ASIC has noticed. The data behind the binary options ban is not flattering. In the period before the ban, between 74-77% of ...