WASHINGTON, D.C.—Benjamin Schiffrin, Director of Securities Policy, issued the following statement in connection with the approval by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of a rule change to allow the New York Stock Exchange to offer overnight trading:

“The legalization of sports betting in America has led to a gambling addiction epidemic, fueled partly by the ability to place bets around the clock. At the same time, addiction centers are seeing a rise in another type of addiction: investors hooked on trading stocks. The SEC’s decision to authorize the New York Stock Exchange to offer overnight trading risks turning the stock market into a casino, with retail investors suffering the consequences.

“With sports betting, the ease of betting from a phone at any time of day combined with the techniques sports betting apps use to induce betting has proven to be irresistible. Now, the same factors that got Americans addicted to sports betting may get them addicted to stock trading. The combination of advanced technologies that can help financial firms induce frequent trading by retail investors with around-the-clock trading could be disastrous.

“Indeed, there is growing evidence that the ability to trade overnight is addictive. The proponents of 24/7 trading equate it to crypto trading, which occurs around the clock. But an underreporting element of crypto trading is that it can lead to addiction.

“Crypto trading addiction has reached the point where there are now addiction centers that specialize in crypto trading. One patient noted that crypto was so addictive ‘because it’s 24 hours a day, seven days week,’ and so they would be checking their phones at 3 am.

“Addiction experts already say that, ‘in some cases, the consumer protections in the gambling industry exceed that in the financial markets.’ The SEC should be doing everything it can to reverse this situation. Instead, the SEC is making the stock market more like a casino.”

###

Better Markets is a non-profit, non-partisan, and independent organization founded in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis to promote the public interest in the financial markets, support the financial reform of Wall Street and make our financial system work for all Americans again. Better Markets works with allies—including many in finance—to promote pro-market, pro-business and pro-growth policies that help build a stronger, safer financial system that protects and promotes Americans’ jobs, savings, retirements and more. To