While many best know Robinhood for its role in the viral Gamestop short squeeze in early 2021, the popular trading platform is doubling down on its foray into the world of event contracts.
Key Takeaways
- Robinhood will introduce more than 100 new event contracts in the coming weeks, which will include sports, politics, and more.
- The platform’s latest offerings include NBA and World Series markets, as well as political contracts tied to Trump, tariffs, and U.S. election outcomes.
- The move continues Robinhood’s expansion into prediction markets following its launch of both NFL and NCAA football contracts in August.
Robinhood recently announced it will add new political event contracts, including New York and presidential election contracts, alongside a host of new sports contracts as the NBA season kicks off and the World Series gets underway.
“Over the coming weeks and months, the company will add 100+ new contracts across sports, politics, economics, business, culture, and more,” A spokesperson said in a release. “New contracts will drop on a weekly basis and updates will be shared via @RobinhoodApp on X.”
Notable political contracts already on offer include various Trump-themed picks, including future pardons, various tariff-related picks, and even his approval rating on Jan. 1.
Meanwhile, on the sports side, Robinhood bettors will have the opportunity to pick from every single NBA game, as well as future picks such as East and West champions, and even make picks on whether the Toronto Blue Jays or Los Angeles Dodgers will take home the World Series, as well as Games 1 and 2 individually.
Robinhood continues to dip toe into sports
Robinhood is continuing to make advances into the world of sports betting, or more specifically, sports contracts, over the past several months.
In August, Robinhood began offering odds for NFL games, as well as college football, including Power 4 conferences and independents.
“Football is far and away the most popular sport in America,” JB Mackenzie, VP & GM of futures and international, said at the time. “Adding pro and college football to our prediction markets hub is a no-brainer for us as we aim to make Robinhood a one-stop shop for all your investing and trading needs.”
Contracts are tradable daily between 8 a.m. and 3 a.m. ET.
The move puts Robinhood in competition with other prediction markets, most notably Polymarket, which boasts trading volumes in the tens of billions of dollars annually.
Despite the enormous potential market these prediction markets represent, legal hurdles have proven a hindrance, with Robinhood most recently facing hurdles in August.
Most pressing, Robinhood sued gaming officials in Nevada and New Jersey alongside the launch of the operator’s football prediction markets, with the company arguing the Commodity Exchange Act framework for futures and swaps “preempts state wagering rules when contracts are listed on a federally regulated market such as Kalshi.”
