There’s a Plan to Bring Sports Gambling to the Futures Market (1)

The futures market is often referred to as Wall Street’s casino. Now, in a twist, there’s a proposal to let casinos start trading futures.

The marriage of the gambling industry and high finance is being pushed by a cryptocurrency exchange and a Washington lawyer. Hoping to grab a piece of the billions of dollars flowing into the U.S. sports betting industry, they’ve designed futures contracts based on National Football League games and are petitioning regulators to bless them.

That could be challenging: Congress banned financial instruments involving gaming in 2010. But the promoters argue that the futures, tied to ...