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With the abrupt closure of Dublin-based Intrade.com on Monday, there is increasing doubt that customers will see their monies returned and, it would appear, all those Pope bets will go up in smoke just like that smoke signal that will determine when the new Pope is selected.
Intrade claims they had to shut down due to “financial irregularities”, which is never a good sign.
Intrade relied heavily on futures trading, bets that are not typically settled immediately. Betting on the next Pope has been among the most wagered on futures in recent weeks.
From CNN Money:
The most active prediction contracts ahead of the shutdown were about the papal succession process now underway and whether the Democrats will win the 2016 presidential election. It predicted Archbishop Angelo Scola of Italy as the favorite papal candidate with a 25% chance of election, and said Democrats have a 56% of winning the White House again in 2016.
US gamblers are less likely to be impacted by this shutdown as Intrade stopped accepting business from States due to a U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) investigation.
- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com
