Apple has formally told its employees and contractors that company secrets are off limits when it comes to prediction markets. The guidance appears in the iPhone maker's newest annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The move puts the world's most valuable public company among a growing group of businesses writing rules for platforms where people bet on yes-or-no outcomes. It also comes as regulators and lawmakers look harder at whether insiders are using these markets to profit from what they know.
What Apple's Filing Says
According to a report by Casino.org, Apple's new Form 10-K includes a lengthy section on insider trading restrictions, with a portion focused specifically on prediction markets. In it, the company instructs staff not to trade on yes/no exchanges "based on confidential information."
The policy goes beyond an individual's own trades. Workers are also barred from passing Apple confidential information to anyone else who might use it on these platforms.
Apple defines that confidential information broadly, saying it includes material nonpublic information but is not limited to it. The company also states that the ban applies regardless of whether the activity would legally count as insider trading or securities trading.
Questions the Policy Leaves Open
The filing does not address whether employees may still participate in unrelated event contracts. Prediction markets offer wagers on sports, cryptocurrency prices and pop culture, and Apple's language does not say whether those remain permissible.
As written, the restriction centers on the misuse of company information rather than a blanket ban on using the platforms at all.
Why Apple Is a Natural Target
Apple carries unusual exposure to this kind of risk. Prediction market operators regularly list contracts tied to Apple's events and product announcements, from launch timing to feature details.
Because so much of Apple's business runs on tightly guarded product secrets, a relatively small number of insiders can know outcomes well before the public. That gap is exactly what makes event contracts on the company attractive to someone looking to exploit nonpublic knowledge.
A Recent Case at Google
The concern is not hypothetical. Earlier this year, a former Google software engineer was hit with federal insider trading charges after allegedly using nonpublic information to earn $1.2 million on Polymarket.
That case showed that authorities are willing to treat prediction market activity tied to corporate secrets as a serious legal matter, raising the stakes for large tech employers that have not yet set clear rules.
New Contracts Tied to Apple Metrics
Apple's updated language also follows a significant regulatory development. Roughly three weeks earlier, the SEC approved event contracts built by Cboe Global Markets around company key performance indicators, to be traded on Robinhood.
Those products, which could number 100 or more, are linked to performance metrics for 23 public companies, and Apple is one of them. That allows traders to take positions on specific Apple figures such as earnings and iPhone sales.
While the timing may be coincidental, more granular contracts also create more openings for someone with inside knowledge. Apple's policy appears designed to close that door before problems arise.
What This Means for Companies and Their Workers
For employers, Apple's filing offers a template: treat prediction markets as a distinct risk and spell out expectations in writing, rather than assuming existing securities rules cover every scenario.
For employees across the tech industry, the message is that betting on outcomes connected to an employer's confidential plans can carry real professional and legal consequences. As event contracts expand into corporate metrics, more companies are likely to follow Apple in drawing explicit lines.
Source: Casino.org
