The Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Bill Galvin, has initiated an investigation into Robinhood for its offering of sports prediction markets, particularly focusing on college basketball tournament bets. The state's securities regulator issued subpoenas to obtain information about Robinhood's marketing strategies and the demographics of its users engaging in these betting activities. Galvin expressed concerns regarding the potential links between gambling on popular sporting events and brokerage accounts, labeling it a gimmick aimed at attracting young investors away from more prudent investment strategies. Although Robinhood, in collaboration with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), has launched regulated prediction contracts, it faced scrutiny after discontinuing Super Bowl betting contracts just a day post-launch, following similar regulatory challenges faced by other platforms. The probe also seeks internal communications from Robinhood concerning the rollout of the recent event contracts after the CFTC advised against the Super Bowl offerings.

Source đź”—