Intrade enables `sports products? ? major international and UK sporting events ? to be freely traded on an open market amongst buyers and sellers, with prices determined solely by supply and demand, and not intermediaries operating their own books.
Trading through the exchange via www.intrade.com will be transparent with prices and volumes on both the bid and the offer being visible.
The company will initially offer two contract styles: `PIX? (Percentage IndeX) contracts based on the contracts available on many financial and commodities exchanges, and `Totals? contracts where every contract can be traded at all times, for example, during a match or race.
In line with financial exchanges, Intrade members will be charged a small fixed exchange fee per contract lot traded.
?Intrade recognises the need for a properly structured exchange which will allow sports events to be traded in exactly the same way as stocks and shares, futures, derivatives and commodities,? said Intrade CEO Ron Bernstein.
?We are taking sports trading to the City and ultimately to the international financial community. Trading in Tiger Woods can be taken as seriously as trading in three-month options or Tesco shares. Buying and selling Sampras should be as simple as buying or selling sterling or Shell.?
Contracts will embrace football, golf, motor racing, NFL, tennis, rugby union, rugby league, cricket, horseracing and others.
Intrade, the betting exchange for trading on major sporting events modelled on financial exchanges, has told sportbusiness.com how the system will work when it opens for trading tomorrow.Online Gambling: The Regulation of Global Sports Betting: A new report from SportBusiness Group: Click here
