March Madness is about to get even wilder.
On Monday, Robinhood announced a prediction market hub within its app, allowing users to trade event contracts. The hub will include markets—made available through Kalshi, a CFTC-regulated prediction market exchange—on the upcoming men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments.
“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,” said JB Mackenzie, VP & GM of Futures and International at Robinhood. “We’re excited to offer our customers a new way to participate in prediction markets and look forward to doing so in compliance with existing regulations.”
Customers will also be able to trade contracts on May’s target Fed funds rate, giving users an early taste of prediction markets on different topics.
“We did it with elections and now we will do it with sports,” Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour posted on LinkdedIn, praising his team for their work in listing every NCAA Tournament matchup on Robinhood.
Prediction markets shoot for sports
The arrival of March Madness markets comes after Robinhood’s failed attempt to list Kalshi’s Super Bowl contracts, which were taken down at the CFTC’s request. Today, their sports event contracts seem secure.
The biggest regulatory change between the Super Bowl and March Madness was the CFTC’s incoming leadership. Acting Chairman Caroline Pham oversaw the Super Bowl pause. On Feb. 12, President Trump nominated Brian Quintenz to chair the CFTC permanently. Quintenz argued that all events were commodities in 2021 when he defended another prediction market platform’s right to offer event contracts on sports.
Although Quintenz has not been confirmed by the Senate yet, Pham seems supportive of his intention to allow event contracts on sports, politics, and other events.
If March Madness is any indication, prediction markets are just getting started.
