Robinhood limits prediction market exposure to protect corporate reputation

Robinhood users can no longer wager on whether specific words will appear in public speeches or corporate earnings calls. The brokerage has discontinued Mention Markets contracts, citing risks of market abuse and insider trading.

Robinhood UK President Jordan Sinclair stated that some event contracts are not right for the company's customers. The decision follows industry incidents where Israeli authorities charged two people with using classified military intelligence to bet on a U.S. military operation in Iran, and a former YouTube editor paid a $20,000 penalty for betting on unreleased video content. Trading volume also spiked before a Nobel Peace Prize reveal, triggering a leak probe.

To further limit legal and reputational risk, Robinhood partners exclusively with regulated U.S. entities Kalshi and ForecastEx, which require identity verification. The company avoids unregulated platforms like Polymarket, which allows users to trade via cryptocurrency wallets with minimal verification.

CEO Vlad Tenev called prediction markets the firm's fastest-growing business ever in 2025, during which users executed over 12 billion contracts. Robinhood projects $300 million in annual revenue from this business segment.