An entertainment industry coalition including creators, independent producers and distributors, business organizations and theater owners this week praised a legislative provision that would prevent online motion picture box-office wagering, reports entertainment insider and actor Mark Woolley.
The measure, contained in financial reform legislation unveiled this week by Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark) would bar futures trading based on box-office receipts. As Chairman of the Agriculture Committee, Senator Lincoln oversees the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, states Mr. Woolley.
“As Congress moves forward with financial regulatory reform, we are very grateful to Chairman Lincoln for seeking to put a stop to plans to allow wagering on box-office futures, which are based on a faulty understanding of the film business and could cause real financial harm to both the film industry and other Americans drawn in by an online gaming platform that could be easily manipulated,” Mark Woolley reports the group said.
Earlier this week, the Directors Guild of America (DGA), the Independent Film and Television Alliance (IFTA), the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and its member companies and the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) urged the CFTC to deny a request from Cantor Futures Exchange L.P. to create a designated contract market for the trading of financial derivatives based on film futures, states Mark Woolley.
