Meta is quietly building its own betting-style app, and it could shake up a market already worth billions.

Mark Zuckerberg has told a small Meta team to build a prediction markets app, the New York Times reports. Internally, it’s called “Arena,” and it’s designed to take on Polymarket and Kalshi.

The Details

Arena would run separately from Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, though Meta plans to lean on those platforms to bring in users. At launch, people would wager points, not cash, though Meta hasn’t ruled out real money down the line. The move follows a familiar playbook for Zuckerberg, who has copied competitors before with Stories, Reels, and Threads.

The timing matters. Kalshi was valued at $22 billion this year, double its previous mark, with annualized volume near $178 billion. Prediction markets overall logged roughly $60 billion in trades between January and mid-April, and Bernstein estimates that figure could hit $1 trillion by 2030.

Market Reaction

Shares of DraftKings and FanDuel’s parent company dropped on the news, a sign of how much pressure prediction markets are putting on traditional sportsbooks. Meta stock dipped slightly as well.

Why It Matters

For traders, this is a signal that prediction markets are moving from a crypto-native niche into mainstream tech. If Meta brings real money into Arena later, it could pull massive retail volume away from existing platforms overnight, given the size of Meta’s user base.

What to Watch

Watch for Meta’s official confirmation, regulatory reaction, and whether Arena adds real-money betting. Any of those could move sentiment fast.

Stay ahead of every market-moving headline with QuoMarkets. 

Source: Yahoo Finance