Robinhood suspends accepting bets on the Super Bowl after a CFTC inquiry

The regulator had earlier launched an investigation into the Crypto. com exchange over sports betting

05.02.2025 - 14:15

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What’s new? Broker Robinhood has suspended trading in contracts on the outcome of the Super Bowl after receiving a request from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The suspension comes just one day after Robinhood launched a product in partnership with prediction marketplace Kalshi, allowing betting on the outcome of the Philadelphia Eagles vs. Kansas City Chiefs game on February 9.

Press release

What else is known? The company said it has rolled out the product to about 1% of its customers, some of whom have already placed trades.

“We are disappointed by this outcome, especially given that we had been in regular communication with the CFTC about our intent and plans to offer this product,” Robinhood said.

Robinhood first launched event-driven contracts in October, at which time it offered bets on the outcome of the US presidential election. The launch followed Kalshi’s court victory against the CFTC, which allowed the platform to offer US users contracts on election results.

Earlier this week, it was reported that the CFTC had launched an investigation into Kalshi itself, as well as one of the largest centralized crypto exchanges, Crypto. com. The regulator will examine whether the Super Bowl-related contracts they offer comply with derivatives trading rules.

CFTC will verify the legality of sports betting on the crypto exchange Crypto. com

Late last year, the exchange launched a derivatives platform for betting on the outcomes of sporting events

Crypto. com stated that it does not intend to stop selling the product during the investigation. Moreover, the CFTC will not be able to promptly ban the product — this is possible only after the end of the investigation, which takes 90 days. By then, the event will have already taken place, but it is possible that the regulator will ban the offering of such products in the future.

Event contracts differ from traditional betting in that the odds come from a pool of users betting on the likely winner, rather than from a bookmaker.

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