Online betting site Intrade announced late Sunday that it has stopped trading on its website after the company said it had discovered "financial irregularities."
"With sincere regret we must inform you that due to circumstances recently discovered we must immediately cease trading activity on www.intrade.com," according to a statement on Intrade's website.
Intrade -- based in Dublin, Ireland, and known for its offbeat bets on world pope culture events like the Oscars and the pending papacy vote -- was recently embroiled in controversy after regulators filed a complaint last year that accused the company of taking bets from from the U.S. without regulatory approval, according to The New York Times. The company said it would no longer accept bets from the U.S. hours after the complaint was lobbed, The Wall Street Journal reported.
In its latest chapter, Intrade said it has "closed and settled all open contracts at fair market value as of the close of business on March 10, 2013," but it cannot make payments to members until the investigation is over.
The exchange, founded in 1999 by Irish businessman John Delaney, was a popular place for people to bet on everything from the outcome of the U.S. presidential election to Israel's airstrikes against Iran.
The website shot to fame after users correctly predicted the outcome of the 2008 U.S. presidential election, according to Time.
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