USA NEWS TODAY: The intersection of Wall Street and the stadium just became much more crowded. Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ: HOOD) has officially unveiled an aggressive expansion of its prediction markets platform, introducing NFL prop bets and parlay-style contracts. The move marks a pivot from the company’s roots as a pure-play stock brokerage into a direct competitor for sports betting giants like DraftKings and FanDuel.
With the stock up a staggering 205% in 2025, the company is leveraging its momentum to turn “event trading” into a cornerstone of its financial ecosystem. By integrating sports wagering mechanics into a regulated financial framework, Robinhood is betting that the same retail investors who revolutionised meme stocks will now do the same for the NFL playoffs.
From Stocks to Spreads: The Mechanics of the Push
Robinhood’s foray into the sports arena isn’t just a simple “betting” tab. It is an extension of its Prediction Markets Hub, which launched earlier this year. Unlike traditional sportsbooks that operate under state gaming licenses, Robinhood’s event contracts are regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
- Custom Combinations (Parlays): Beginning in early 2026, users will have the ability to create “custom combos.” These function like traditional parlays, allowing traders to link up to 10 different outcomes—such as a team winning, a specific player hitting a yardage total, and a game exceeding a point spread—into a single contract.
- The Payout Structure: In the Robinhood ecosystem, these contracts typically pay out $1 if the outcome is correct and $0 if it isn’t. The price of the contract (e.g., $0.55) reflects the market’s perceived probability (55%) of that event occurring.
- Real-Time Engagement: Users can trade these contracts live as the game unfolds, treating a quarterback’s performance with the same volatility and technical analysis one might apply to a tech stock.
“We are giving users another way to turn their nuanced sports knowledge into an investing opportunity,” said JB Mackenzie, Robinhood’s Vice President and General Manager of Futures and International.
A $300 Million Revenue Engine
The financial justification for this move is clear: prediction markets are Robinhood’s fastest-growing product category. According to recent financial reports, the segment is on track to become a $300 million annual revenue driver by the end of 2025. In November alone, the platform saw over 3 billion prediction market contracts traded—a 20% jump from October. This surge helped propel Robinhood to a record Q3, where total net revenues doubled year-over-year to $1.27 billion.
Robinhood’s 2025 Performance vs. 2024
| Metric | Q3 2024 | Q3 2025 | Growth (%) |
| Total Net Revenue | $637M | $1.27B | +100% |
| Net Income | $150M | $556M | +271% |
| Gold Subscribers | 2.2M | 3.9M | +77% |
| Stock Price Growth (YTD) | ~30% | ~205% | +583% |
Disrupting the “Big Two”: DraftKings and FanDuel
Robinhood’s entry into the space has sent ripples through the sports betting industry. Traditional leaders DraftKings (NASDAQ: DKNG) and Flutter Entertainment (NYSE: FLUT), which owns FanDuel, have seen their stock prices underperform in 2025 as Robinhood siphons away younger, “mobile-first” users.
The advantage for Robinhood lies in its all-in-one ecosystem. A user can sell $100 of Bitcoin, buy a “Yes” contract on the Kansas City Chiefs winning the Super Bowl, and check their retirement IRA all within the same 60 seconds. This convenience factor is a major threat to specialized betting apps that require separate deposits and identity verification.
However, the road isn’t without hurdles. State regulators in jurisdictions like Connecticut have already issued cease-and-desist orders, arguing that these “event contracts” are essentially unlicensed sports betting. Robinhood maintains that because they are CFTC-regulated derivatives, they are a distinct—and legal—asset class.