Robinhood Rolls Out College Football, NFL Prediction Markets

• Announcement arrives ahead of college football’s week zero
• Robinhood has a partnership with prediction markets operator Kalshi

Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ: HOOD) announced Tuesday its Robinhood Derivatives, LLC (RHD) unit will offer prediction markets on the NFL and college football, potentially escalating competition with traditional sportsbook operators.

The brokerage firm said clients can trade event contracts on all regular season NFL games and “all college Power 4 schools and independents” using the Prediction Markets Hub found on the Robinhood mobile application. To be eligible for Robinhood Derivatives, clients must be approved for margin trading or the broker’s second and third tiers of options trading.

“Pro and college football prediction markets are rolling out now and will be available to all eligible customers in the coming days,” according to a statement issued by the financial services firm. “At launch, we’re offering contracts for the first two weeks of the pro and college seasons, and we plan to add weekly matchups as the season progresses (for example, week 3 games will launch after week 1 concludes).”

Robinhood waded into the prediction markets space just before the 2024 presidential election — a seminal event in the yes/no event contract space — and has seen more than two billion contracts traded on its platform since late last year.

Robinhood Capitalizing on Football’s Popularity

Through a partnership with prediction markets giant Kalshi, Robinhood offered its derivatives clients event contracts on the Super Bowl earlier this year, so this isn’t the trading firm’s first involvement with football.

It is competition gaming companies need to pay attention to because the average Robinhood customer is 35 years old, and the firm’s biggest age constituency is late 20s — age groups that make up the core range for sportsbook operators.

While it’s estimated that the average Robinhood account size is just $4,800, many of those younger clients are cryptoenthused traders with high risk tolerances and who are willing to trade frequently — attributes coveted by gaming companies.

Robinhood Football Move Could Irk Critics

Robinhood’s deepening embrace of football derivatives may invite criticism from gaming industry observers and regulators. Many in those camps contend prediction markets are booking sports bets, and are doing so without state gaming licenses.

Robinhood didn’t say whether or not its football contracts constitute standard sports bets, but it made clear clients may come to enjoy yes/no contracts over money line football bets.

“Unlike sports betting, where the firm sets a line, event contracts leverage the power and rigor of financial market structure and are offered in a marketplace where buyers and sellers interact to set the price,” according to the company. “Customers can access the contracts in real time and manage risk by adjusting–or exiting–their positions up to and throughout a game before a contract expires.”