CME to add sports contracts to December prediction market launch

CME and online gaming company FanDuel on Wednesday announced that they will launch the prediction market through the new FanDuel Predicts app for US customers in December.

The joint venture, which involves a non-clearing Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) to process the trades, was first announced in August. Details of the first hourly contracts to be listed were published last month and included equity index and commodity events, as crypto and economic indicators. The addition of sports contracts ends months of speculation on whether the much larger market would be included in the platform.

"Our new event contracts on benchmarks, economic indicators and now sports will appeal to a new generation of potential participants who are not active in these markets today,” Terry Duffy (pictured), chairman and chief executive of CME said in a release. "This launch will dramatically expand our distribution and reach, connecting directly with FanDuel's million of registered US users."

Duffy called for guidance from the US government on sports contracts when the firm presented third quarter results in October, while saying the firm "would not sit on the sidelines" as the market evolves.

Subject to regulatory filings, the app will provide access to sports event contracts across baseball, basketball, football and hockey according to the release.

In addition to sports, event contracts will be offered on benchmarks such as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100, prices of oil and gas, gold, cryptocurrencies, and key economic indicators such as gross domestic product (GDP) and consumer price inflation (CPI).

"Our partnership with CME Group allows us to leverage their deep market expertise built over decades while delivering the seamless, accessible and trusted experience our customers expect," Amy Howe, chief executive at FanDuel said.

CME's rivals have also been looking to enter the growing binary event contract market. Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) last month sealed a $2 billion (£1.5bn) investment in prediction market Polymarket, as part of a data partnership.

Cboe Global Markets in October said it was “crafting a go-to-market plan” for its own event contract offering.