Apple explicitly bars confidential-information bets on prediction markets

Apple has added an explicit ban on using confidential company information to trade or wager on prediction markets, extending its internal restrictions beyond conventional securities transactions.

The provision, titled “No Trading in Prediction Markets Based on Confidential Information,” was included in Apple’s fiscal 2026 Form 10-K, which covered the year ended Sept. 26. The annual filing was published after the company’s fourth-quarter earnings report, and the new language was absent from the insider-trading policy filed the previous year, according to 9to5Mac.

The rule covers wagering, betting, trading, buying or selling contracts tied to future events, as well as other event contracts, when participants use Apple Confidential Information obtained through their work. It applies to information concerning Apple and other companies, including suppliers, manufacturers, vendors, customers, cellular carriers and other business partners.

Workers are also barred from tipping confidential information to people who may take part in such markets. Apple’s policy says the restriction applies even where the conduct does not amount to insider trading or securities trading under applicable law.

Apple’s February Business Conduct Policy defines Apple Confidential Information broadly. It includes third-party confidential material and nonpublic information about past, present or future Apple products and services, as well as sales, pricing, operations, material sources, finances and marketing plans. The company’s existing safeguards cover unreleased or unannounced products, services and updates, with restrictions lifted after public disclosure, AppleInsider reported.

The available documents draw a distinction between Apple employees and third parties. Apple’s Business Conduct Policy applies to its full- and part-time employees and says the company expects suppliers, contractors, consultants and other partners to follow its principles while serving Apple or acting on its behalf. A separate Third Party Code requires covered third parties to protect Apple information and prohibits securities trades or tips based on material nonpublic information obtained through Apple work. The evidence does not establish that the newly explicit prediction-market clause itself directly applies to every contractor.

The move addresses prediction markets, which have become widely available in the United States. Major prediction-market platforms already prohibit insider trading in their terms, 9to5Mac said, though enforcement can be difficult. AppleInsider described such markets as a new avenue for fraud and insider trading, with technology making participation easier faster than laws and regulations have developed.