Robinhood Halts Super Bowl Event Contracts After CFTC Request

The futures commission merchant registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Robinhood, announced its plans to discontinue its offering on event contracts for the upcoming Super Bowl. The announcement comes after earlier this week, the platform confirmed an agreement with Kalshi to offer event trading on the upcoming Super Bowl LIX, effectively enabling trading on the outcome of the game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs.

CFTC Asks Robinhood to Stop Offering Sports Event Contracts on the Super Bowl

However, after Robinhood announced its plan to offer sports event contracts for the Pro Football Championship, the company was asked by the CFTC to stop its customers from accessing such contracts. A statement released by the company confirmed it was asked to “not permit customers to access” event trading contracts.

Robinhood acknowledged that it was disappointed with the request of the CFTC. Still, the platform said that it will continue to collaborate with the Commission and in the meantime, restrict the access to sports event contracts. “We have rolled this product out to roughly 1% of our customers, and for those who already placed trades, we plan on providing the option to close their positions or take them to resolution,” Robinhood wrote.

Robinhood Will Continue to Collaborate with the Federal Regulator

The request of the CFTC was unexpected as the company had previously notified the regulatory body about its intentions and has been in communication with the Commission. Robinhood supported a balanced regulation for event trading contracts, also referred to as futures and derivatives markets.

The popular platform, which is also a Member of the National Futures Association, said that it is prepared to provide the CFTC with written input on the topic and also participate in a roundtable with the Commission. “Robinhood Derivatives, LLC will continue to collaborate with the CFTC as we work to roll out a more comprehensive event contracts platform later this year,” the company added.

“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. We’ve also taken steps to advocate for balanced regulation in the futures and derivatives markets, including participating directly in a CFTC roundtable, providing written feedback to the CFTC, and generally championing the economic benefits of event contracts,“

reads a statement released by Robinhood

It was back in December when Robinhood confirmed it eyes entry into the sports betting vertical. Before that, the platform offered event trading on the US Presidential Election, recording a notable 95% customer retention rate as of October 2024.

The offering of football future contracts by Crypto.com is also facing federal scrutiny. Back in January, after the platform confirmed its plans to offer such contracts, the CFTC announced Crypto.com would be subject to a 90-day review.