Video: The Granddaddy of Prediction Markets

With InTrade the de facto source for blogger prediction market musings, it's easy to forget that there are other prediction markets out there. (Chris Masse has an extensive list of them here.)

Joyce Berg, the director of the Iowa Electronic Markets (which is sporting a spiffy redesign), was in the Portfolio offices last week and here's a short interview we taped with her.

Not on the video, I also asked Berg about the potential for markets to set up shop in the U.S. The I.E.M. is the only real money market in the U.S. and has two no-action letters from the CFTC. Right now it's a huge pain to fund an account on one of the off-shore sites like InTrade, which is likely deterring activity by more casual traders. Berg said that no federal authority has taken regulatory ownership of prediction markets, and if they do -- or are forced to do -- one possible outcome could be that prediction markets are treated like sports gambling, meaning you would only be able to legally trade in the state of Nevada.