Robinhood announced Monday that it will now allow U.S. customers to place wagers on the outcome of the 2024 presidential election. The online trading platform’s new feature enables users to trade contracts on the possible election win of either former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris on Nov. 5. Initially, this option will be available to a limited number of investors who are U.S. citizens.
These election-focused “forecast contracts” are defined by Robinhood as contracts with value based on the occurrence of a specific event within a designated timeframe. Users interested in these contracts will see a disclosure warning that “commodity interest trading involves significant risk and is not appropriate for everyone.”
“Event contracts empower users to engage in real-time decision-making, providing access to a new asset class that allows them to participate as events unfold,” Robinhood stated in a press release. The announcement lifted Robinhood Markets’ stock by 3% shortly afterward.
This move into political event betting follows a recent federal appeals court decision permitting Americans to wager on election outcomes. Earlier in the month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit lifted an order preventing New York-based company Kalshi from offering bets on the political party in control of the House and Senate after the upcoming elections. The court’s decision allows such betting to continue while the underlying legal case is considered further.
However, the development has sparked concerns. Better Markets, a nonprofit organization advocating for public interest in financial markets, criticized the court’s decision, describing it as a “troubling day for election integrity in the United States.” Stephen Hall, the group’s legal director, warned that betting on elections could encourage interference in democratic processes. “The use of AI, deepfakes, and social media manipulation to influence voters is already a concern, and adding election betting contracts may intensify these risks for the lure of fast profits,” Hall stated.
Hall also expressed worry about the timing, emphasizing that introducing election betting so close to the election could lead to irreversible consequences. “There’s no way to fully mitigate the potential damage to public interest from betting at this stage in the election cycle,” he said. “It’s yet another factor raising concern about election security this year.”
