Insider trading, in the U.S., is not legally about fairness but about theft. A firm hedging its own positions is using its information for its own purposes. A federal employee trading on what they heard is abusing the trust placed in them by the American people.
See United States v. Blaszczak.
It may be abuse of trust but that's not automatically a crime.
Sports betting is still illegal in 11 states. They can only do what they’re doing because of legislation and enforcement lag.
> The CFTC doesn't have the same standards of "insider trading" as the stock market, because insider trading is the entire point of business at the CFTC!
True to some extent, but it’s still illegal to use non-public information gained from your firm to trade on personal accounts.