Robinhood Aims to Increase Presence in Prediction Markets Space

Robinhood is reportedly looking at the prediction markets space as it continues to expand its offerings beyond its retail trading platform.

The company is considering growing in the event contracts space through an acquisition, joint venture, partnership or by building its own products, Reuters reported Monday (Oct. 13), citing its interview with JB Mackenzie, vice president and general manager of futures and international at Robinhood.

Robinhood has already partnered with prediction marketplace Kalshi and with Interactive Brokers Group’s ForecastEx, according to the report.

Interest in the predictions market space has surged since the U.S. presidential election, and there are now venues where investors can use event contracts to wager on anything from monetary policy to sports, the report said.

When Robinhood partnered with Kalshi in March to add a prediction markets hub to its app, Mackenzie said in a press release: “We believe in the power of prediction markets and think they play an important role at the intersection of news, economics, politics, sports and culture.”

PYMNTS reported in August that a long-predicted U.S. boom in prediction markets may be arriving, in part because of a change in the country’s regulatory posture under the Trump administration.

In September, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission appeared to boost the trajectory of prediction markets when it issued a no-action letter regarding event contracts.

The letter was issued in response to a request from designated contract market QCX LLC and derivatives clearing organization QC Clearing LLC, both of which are owned by crypto-based prediction market platform Polymarket. It in essence gave Polymarket a regulatory green light to re-enter the American market.

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the owner and operator of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), announced Tuesday (Oct. 7) that it invested $2 billion in Polymarket, gaining not only a financial stake but also a central role as the global distributor of Polymarket’s event-driven data.

In August, peer-to-peer sports prediction market Novig raised $18 million in a Series A funding round and said it plans to expand coverage to additional sports, deepen its presence in existing markets and launch new features.

Fawzi Itani, principal at Forerunner, which led the funding round, said in a press release: “Novig sits at the center of several key secular trends in gaming and entertainment, namely that consumers increasingly are spending their time, energy and attention with financial products.”

For all PYMNTS digital transformation coverage, subscribe to the daily Digital Transformation Newsletter.