Betfair tests the waters with a prediction market platform

Mainstream sports gambling companies might have once been coy about the potential of prediction market platforms, but this is now over, with all the industry heavyweights dipping a toe to test regulatory and commercial response to launching their dedicated solutions in the vertical.

The latest to have done so is Flutter Entertainment’s Betfair, a betting exchange, which is now expanding by introducing a dedicated prediction market platform, which is currently in its beta stage. Betafair Predicts will offer participants the chance to pick from yes-no binary outcomes, much like Kalshi and Polymarket do. The events covered will vary from real sports to politics and entertainment. The beta stage means that the platform is not widely available, with select customers offered access to the platform instead. Betfair is looking to see what the uptake would be and how people respond to a prediction market product, and is running under the company’s UK license presently. Betfair does have some experience in prediction markets, having helped with the launch of its parent company’s other offshoot brand - FanDuel Predicts, a contender in the United States that is looking to capitalize on the newfound appetite for prediction markets. In the meantime, prediction markets are facing increased regulatory and legal scrutiny in the United States, with varying outcomes. Some states, such as Nevada and Arizona, have doubled down, but others have seen prediction markets make headway, such as in New Jersey.