Zuckerberg directs Meta to build play-money prediction markets app
Meta CEO Zuckerberg has directed the company to build a prediction market application, according to a New York Times report cited by multiple outlets. The product would operate independently of Meta's other apps and use a points-based, play-money system rather than real-money wagering, placing it outside the CFTC-regulated event-contract model used by platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi. The project is in early stages with no disclosed product timeline or regulatory approach. The directive comes as prediction markets have grown into a multi-billion-dollar business, with established platforms expanding into sports, politics, and economic event contracts, and as trading platforms including Robinhood and Interactive Brokers have rolled out their own event contract offerings.
A Meta prediction market with nearly 3 billion daily users across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp would instantly dwarf Polymarket and Kalshi on distribution. Even modest play-money engagement would force the two CFTC-regulated platforms to defend their product edge against a free rival with unmatched scale.
Meta's reported play-money app joins its own Arena product already in development, Robinhood's newly in-house Rothera exchange, and the DRW-Wintermute-IMC liquidity buildout as the fourth major platform-level move reshaping prediction market distribution and execution infrastructure.