Highlights of the partnership via a Reuters article, doing the rounds on a few other sites as well though.
FanDuel (via parent company Flutter) is teaming up with CME Group to offer event contracts in late 2025.
They'll operate through a freshly formed joint venture acting as a non‑clearing futures commission merchant.
Event contracts span outcomes like daily moves in the S&P 500, oil, gold, or economic indicators.
Pricing starts from just $1, enabling frequent, low‑entry-point speculation.
The popularity of event contracts surged after the 2024 U.S. presidential election, attracting both retail interest and industry attention.
Flutter brings valuable experience from Betfair, a pioneer betting exchange sharing key traits with event contracts.
This asset class faces regulatory red flags. KalshiEX had a legal clash with the CFTC over election contracts; Robinhood halted Super Bowl–related contracts after CFTC intervention.
Critics argue event contracts blur lines between financial trading and gambling, raising public trust and integrity concerns.
This sounds like a fancier version of a binary options with fixed payouts for yes or no outcomes. There is a reason binary options faced so much scrutiny, and I can't imagine this will be much different than that.
Where this could be really useful for some is in providing a slightly more real-time sense of where retail sentiment is leaning. For those who like to fade retail positioning, this could offer useful info, depending on how the data and odds are displayed.
