Markets in Everything: Event Ticket Futures

How can you make sure you’ll have tickets for the Superbowl if your team makes it? Buy a future. Chicago Sun Times has an article about the market http://www.ticketreserve.com . Does the CFTC care? And can a market for event tickets be used as a proxy for betting on your team to get around the new gaming law?

Here's how the ticket futures market works:

• • TicketReserve offers futures for a finite number of tickets. Each future is priced based on a team's likelihood to make it to the big game.

• • Once the futures are sold, it's up to individuals to buy and sell them for whatever price the market will bear as the season progresses.

Fair-weather fans and opportunists can even make a few bucks, buying low and selling high as the standings shift.