Robinhood sets age, residency, and account-type rules for event contracts access
Robinhood requires users to be at least 18 years old, US residents, and holders of an individual account to trade event contracts. The criteria surfaced alongside Q3 earnings materials that listed event contracts among Robinhood's product suite with no volume or revenue breakdown. The product was also flagged as a standout business line amid questions about crypto weakness. Users who find themselves ineligible are advised to check their account approval status.
The basic eligibility rules do nothing to solve Robinhood's core vulnerability: it owns no CFTC designated contract market license and routes all event-contract volume through partners including Kalshi and the Rothera joint venture. The Ohio sports-contract halt already proved that partner-dependent models collapse when states reject federal registration.
Competitors with direct CFTC designations can now pitch stability to users who felt that disruption. Bernstein's $1.7 billion 2028 revenue forecast assumes partnership resilience Robinhood cannot guarantee. Every state court loss becomes template law the next attorney general copies, and Robinhood has no fallback exchange if another state follows Ohio's lead.