WagerWire wins Gibraltar approval for prediction exchange

Wire Industries’ prediction-market unit, Wire Markets, received approval-in-principle from Gibraltar to operate a regulated peer-to-peer prediction exchange, the company announced Wednesday. The exchange is scheduled to launch sports event contracts in the fall.

The platform will open with tradable event contracts focused on sports and later add markets for pop culture, weather and economic outcomes. The founders said the exchange will not list geo-political contracts, which they described as low-volume and ethically problematic.

Wire Markets grew from WagerWire, a secondary market that lets bettors sell unresolved sports wagers to other users. The founders began developing the product while students at UCLA and spent five years building the platform before seeking regulatory approval in Gibraltar.

A core product feature is a sell-now function that buys back a bettor’s position at a price between standard cash-out offers and a true secondary-market price. Co-founder Guy Dotan described the buy-back as a hedged operation: the platform would take the opposite position on the market to offset exposure when it repurchases a bet.

The company’s technology was certified by Gaming Labs International and was originally built as an API for integration with mobile sportsbooks. Uptake by business customers was limited, a shortfall the founders attribute to technical constraints at potential partners and a resistance to new features among some operators.

Gibraltar’s regulator reviewed Wire Markets’ experience with liquidity, price discovery and consumer choice during the application. Gibraltar’s Minister for Justice, Trade and Industry, Nigel Feetham KC MP, said the company “meets the stringent prerequisites required of any successful Gibraltar applicant.”

Wire Markets is the second prediction market to receive a Gibraltar license, following a license granted in March to another operator. The company plans to station compliance executives in Gibraltar, expand staff ahead of the fall launch and continue fundraising and partnership talks to scale the business internationally.

Founders said they view the Gibraltar approval as a portable credential for markets in Latin America, Africa, the Asia-Pacific region and parts of Europe. The team also plans to explore launching in the United States if it can secure Commodity Futures Trading Commission approval or form partnerships with regulated exchanges to permit similar trading and pooled liquidity features for U.S. bettors.