Dan Bernstein

Robinhood Boldly Expands Online Betting With Exchange Purchase By owning an exchange and clearinghouse, Robinhood opens the door to more revenue on a per-prediction market wager basis in its app.

Here's my analysis from when Robinhood agreed to buy the exchange

Robinhood's prediction market exchange and clearinghouse Rothera submitted an all-caps "FINAL" version of its rulebook this week.

Robinhood has not provided an exact date for migration to the exchange, but it could be coming soon.

What Is Polymarket Doing in Panama? The prediction market firm’s international exchange is operated by an entity in Central America.

Despite its $9 billion valuation, Polymarket's corporate umbrella gets little coverage.

Take its connections with Panama, for example.

New feature from me on the Central American "operator" of Polymarket's international exchange.

Novig Raises at $500M Valuation With Help of Crypto’s Pivot Novig's Series B round is worth $75 million at a $500 million valuation.

Some big numbers in Novig's new raise led by Pantera Capital. I'm told company is now valued at $500 million.

Seeing a notable pick-up in trend of crypto companies and funds jumping into prediction markets.

NBA Applies TV History Lesson to All-Star Format, and Ratings Rise Wemby's parents were toddlers when "Battle of the Network Stars" premiered, yet the big man seems to have applied its lessons to today's NBA.

Signs of life for the NBA All-Star Game 👽

Battle of the Bookies: Gaming Savants Face Wall Street’s Best Institutional funds and sportsbooks are becoming market makers. Here's what that means.

When sportsbook veterans make markets in the same place as financial firms, who has the edge?

New prediction markets feature story from me.

The value of the average MLS franchise is up 6% from last year 📈

What a CFTC Prediction Market Legal Intervention Could Entail CFTC chair Michael Selig signals his agency will play a more active role in the sports predication market. That could have major legal implications.

My Sportico colleague @mccannsportslaw.bsky.social provides timely analysis on how the CFTC might get involved with ongoing prediction market litigation...

Sporttrade Tries to Undo the Damage of One Bad Bet Sporttrade, by pursuing state licensing rather than gearing up for the possibility of CFTC oversight, lost any first-mover advantage it had.

Even if Sporttrade succeeds in getting approval, the company will enter at a market share deficit to exchanges already operating under the CFTC.

The CFTC Isn’t Deferring on Prediction Markets Anymore Kalshi and Polymarket received a boost from the federal agency's new leader, who may come to their aid in court.

On the latest twist in prediction markets—this one via the Trump administration

Gotham FC Forfeits at Least $800K With Champions Cup Loss The NWSL club was defeated by Corinthians in London at the debut of a women's soccer tournament.

The NWSL club was supposed to cruise to the Champions Cup final.

Instead, it squandered at least $800,000 in prize money that would have been split with its players.

Novig Applies for Federal Prediction Market Approval Novig's co-founders signed the pending CFTC application under the name Ludlow Exchange LLC.

EXCLUSIVE: Novig has applied for approval to become a CFTC-regulated prediction market exchange

Crypto reporter @molly.wiki, who has spent years documenting how companies in that industry get their way, said in an email that compliance-as-PR has long been a go-to tactic there, too.

Kalshi Takes Compliance PR Tour Amid Prediction Market Backlash The compliance message starts at the top with Kalshi co-founders Tarek Mansour and Luana Lopes Lara.

Kalshi and its lobbying proxy are touting compliance at every turn—a PR message that stings Polymarket and turns attention away from alleged insider trading happening on its own platform.

Trinity Rodman Re-Signs With Spirit, Giving NWSL a Much-Needed Win The Washington Spirit and USWNT star is staying in the NWSL, but salary cap and European defection criticisms will persist for the U.S. league.

BREAKING: Trinity Rodman is staying in the NWSL

Video Games Feel Attention Economy Strain as AI Gains A state-of-the-industry research report shows gaming posted record revenue last year, but other forms of entertainment grew at a faster pace.

Video game revenue rose in 2025, but other app categories grew at a faster pace, new data shows.

Largest U.S. Youth Sports Operator 3Step Explores Sale 3Step Sports, the largest operator of youth sports clubs in the U.S., has hired Goldman Sachs to explore a potential sale.

Scoop: the largest operator of U.S. youth sports clubs is for sale www.sportico.com/business/spo...

Nobody Could Beat Indiana—but Anyone With Cash Could Be Next Indiana football completed its undefeated season as 2025-26 college champs. Its spending shows that others could follow the same trajectory.

While Bloomington celebrates, more fanbases than ever will wake up Tuesday asking: Why not us next?

Cristiano Ronaldo is the highest-paid athlete in the word for the third year in a row.

Feature story on the top 100 list from @kbadenhausen.bsky.social here: www.sportico.com/personalitie...

Sportsbooks Prioritize Business Over Addiction Tools in New Apps DraftKings, Fanatics and FanDuel said they cared about combatting addiction. Yet they've shifted their standards for business reasons.

OPINION COLUMN: DraftKings, Fanatics and FanDuel demonstrated responsible gaming was never a moral issue or priority by releasing prediction market apps that abandoned some of their own norms.

Polymarket Fumbles U.S. Launch as Competition Revs Up The prediction market exchange's drive to go live in the U.S. has stalled at the 1-yard-line.

Polymarket U.S. failed to fully launch in 2025, missing out on an untold amount of prediction market betting revenue.

It's a development that has received surprisingly little public attention given the billions of dollars the company has raised this year.

Story here...

How Facial Recognition Tech Took Over U.S. Sporting Events Stadiums are adopting facial authentication and biometric scanning tech in the name of venue security and fan convenience, despite privacy concerns.

Traditionally, fans have gone to stadiums and arenas to watch their favorite teams.

Those teams are now watching them, too.

To Give FIFA’s Roblox Deal Context, Look at YouTube Gamefam announced the release of "FIFA Super Soccer"—a rebrand of a popular existing game it owned, "Super League Soccer."

Among the similarities between Roblox and YouTube: how indie content creators are both empowered and vulnerable.

Middlemen acquire content rights from people often lacking in negotiation experience, then make $ from big orgs like FIFA.

DraftKings Launches ‘Predictions’ Without the Exchange It Bought DraftKings acquired Railbird, but it is going to market without its new prediction market subsidiary.

🎶 Ex-ch-ch-changes 🎶

Teamed up with @ebennovywilliams.bsky.social to write about DraftKings launching its prediction market without the exchange it bought.

Xbox Bowl Brings Console Unrest to College Football Silly Season Missouri State vs. Arkansas State, playing in what was formerly known as the Bahamas Bowl, is a symbol of the bloated bowl format.

Tonight's Xbox Bowl—where the existential crisis of the bloated non-CFP bowl format meets an existential crisis in Microsoft's video game hardware.

It's a chaotic match!

My column...

Qatari Fund, Arctos Buy Powell Jobs’ Monumental Sports Stake Qatari sovereign wealth fund QIA and Arctos are buying shares owned by Laurene Powell Jobs in a deal that assigns Monumental a $7.2B enterprise value.

EXCLUSIVE: Laurene Powell Jobs is selling her stake in the parent company of the Washington Wizards, Mystics and Capitals

Qatari sovereign wealth fund QIA, meanwhile, is increasing its investment.

Robinhood to Offer Custom Sports Parlays Using Kalshi Tech Bettors will be able to request odds for the "combo" bets they want to place, and market makers will respond within seconds.

NEW: Robinhood is racing to introduce customizable parlays before the NFL playoffs using Kalshi's RFQ system 🏈

The move seems to conflict with some of the company's claims about whether it offers gambling.

Story here...

Sophia Wilson Exercises NWSL Record $1M Player Option Sophia Wilson exercised her 2026 player option worth $1 million per year, as the NWSL grapples with compensation mechanisms to keep its best players.

BREAKING: Sophia Wilson becomes a $1 million player

Polymarket Says No to Crypto Bet Resolutions in U.S. The company, not holders of a crypto token, will decide whether prediction market bets should resolve to "yes" or "no."

Polymarket is abandoning the controversial way it resolves bets for the U.S. version of its prediction market app.

Fanatics Launches a Prediction Market—Without the G-Word Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin's business empire now includes a prediction market app. Just don't call it gambling.

Fanatics is launching its prediction market app today. Just don't expect to see the G-word.