Patricia Lalanda calls for tailored regulation of prediction markets
Regulation1 min read
In brief
- Patricia Lalanda of Loyra Abogados said prediction markets, sweepstakes and skill games need separate regulatory analysis.
- She said prediction markets face partial, not absolute, regulatory uncertainty.
- AML and counter-terrorist financing duties should be built into products at the design stage, she said.
Patricia Lalanda, a partner at Loyra Abogados, argued that prediction markets, sweepstakes and skill games cannot be assessed under the same criteria, since their technical and operational differences prevent a single regulatory framework from being applied to them. She made the point during a panel discussion at the III Congreso Internacional de Prevención del Blanqueo de Capitales, held on 28 October. The panel was titled "Prediction Markets. Juego online y PBC".
Lalanda said the regulatory uncertainty around prediction markets is partial, not absolute. She said anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing duties should be built into each product from the design stage, not left to a later phase of development.
She shared the panel with César Zárate Gómez and Cristina Carrascosa Cobos. She also noted the contribution of Jorge Hinojosa, director of Jdigital, who raised the importance of public-private dialogue and collaboration in addressing the sector's new challenges.
The debate set out the need to combine legal and technological knowledge to address increasingly diverse business models, and to avoid applying general regulatory solutions to realities that can be very different.