Robinhood introduces NFL parlay and prop bets on prediction markets platform
Robinhood is enhancing the capabilities of its fastest growing product – prediction markets – by giving users the ability to place basic preferred bets on several NFL games, putting them in direct competition with traditional sports betting.
Starting Tuesday, users can trade preset combinations of NFL game-by-game scores, totals and spreads, and beginning in 2026, users will be able to create custom combinations of up to 10 outcomes across NFL games. These will have a “structural look or feel as a priority,” JB Mackenzie, Robinhood’s vice president and general manager of futures and international businesses, told CNBC.
In addition, the company allows users to bet on the performances of individual NFL players in real time. For example, they can place prop bets on a certain player scoring a touchdown at any point during the game, as well as the passing, receiving and rushing yards for the player.
“It was a great opportunity for us to really be a leader in the space, and that’s what we’re working toward,” Mackenzie said. “These enhancements are another example of us trying to create new customer experiences that make it easier, and in some cases, give them more advanced order types and business options to meet the needs they’re asking us for.”
The new features were revealed at the company’s keynote event “Robinhood Presents: YES/NO” at Summit Skywalker Ranch in Nicasio, California, just outside of San Francisco.
According to Robinhood, this ability may extend beyond the NFL in the future. The broker is also looking at ways to enable combinations across different categories of events, including non-sports ones such as economic data.
Parlaming of non-sporting events
“Over time, the question will be, ‘Is there interest in pairing assets from different classes together?'” Mackenzie said, citing “something to do with the climate and the election” as an example. “All sporting events are certainly on the radar. I also think there will be domestic and international economic data as well as domestic and international politics.”
Robinhood’s involvement in prediction markets began just before the 2024 presidential election, where it allowed users to trade the contract of former Vice President Kamala Harris or President Donald Trump.
In just over a year since partnering with ForecastEx for options trading, the company has only expanded its presence in the prediction markets ecosystem. This year, it partnered with predictive market operator Kalshi. It recently announced a joint venture with Susquehanna International Group in November.
Robinhood saw the fruits of his labor. Prediction markets as a business have already generated $100 million in annual revenue with 11 billion contracts traded by over 1 million customers. Based on October figures, it’s on pace to become a $300 million business.
November was the biggest trading month to date with more than 3 billion contracts traded, an increase of around 20% from October. 2.5 billion contracts were traded this month, which is more than the total performance of the third quarter of the year with 2.3 billion contracts.
“I actually think we’re at the beginning of where it’s really going to go,” Mackenzie said. “I think we’re going to continue to see an expansion of not just events, but asset classes where people can continue to trade.”
Schwab Gen-Z
Earlier this year, Piper Sandler said Robinhood’s prediction markets business represented a “significant” growth opportunity for the company, and they’re not alone in their optimism.
Mizuho analyst Dan Dolev said the strong desire of Robinhood users to interact with predictive markets represents “a lot of upside.” In a recent survey, he found that users of Robinhood and Coinbase — other platforms — are about nine times more likely to engage in prediction markets than non-users.
“They’re going after a user base that’s already prone to engage in prediction markets,” he said in an interview with CNBC. “Over time, they will become a kind of hub for predictive markets.”
Dolev said that Robinhood’s move into predicting markets is the main reason the stock soared a whopping 220% in 2025.
HOOD, year-to-date
However, the analyst stressed that market prediction is not the only thing the company should be watching. With its involvement in other areas, such as retirement, he predicts that Robinhood will eventually become “the new Schwab for Gen Z.”
To put that into perspective, Robinhood had $193 billion in assets under custody for the full year 2024. Charles Schwab total client assets were at $10.10 trillion in the same period.
“One aspect is the prediction marks,” he continued. “They revolve around every aspect of someone’s financial life.”
KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Alex Markgraff competes. He said a number of the company’s other endeavours, including its advisory business and the much-coveted Gold Card, are in the “early stages of scaling”.
“In the short term, (predictive markets) is certainly an area where you could have some excess upside just based on the apparent appetite for event contracting across the consumer retail landscape,” he told CNBC. “However, (there are) more sources of growth, in our view.”