Meta is reportedly building a standalone prediction markets app that could broaden its reach beyond social media into event-driven trading.
- Meta is developing a prediction markets app internally referred to as “Arena,” according to a report in NYT.
- The app would operate independently from Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, while using Meta’s massive user base for growth.
- It may initially use a video game-style points system, though real-money betting has not been ruled out.
Meta Platforms Inc (META) is reportedly developing a prediction markets app. The app may initially use a video game-style points system instead of real-money wagers, though the company has not ruled out enabling cash betting in the future.
The META stock rose nearly 1.5% during intraday trading on Tuesday before paring some of the gains. At the time of writing, the META stock was up 0.2% in after-hours trading.
Shares of sports betting platform DraftKings (DKNG) fell around 2% during Tuesday afternoon trading after the report was released. FanDuel parent Flutter Entertainment (FLUT) also slipped following the report but remained positive for the day.
META’s Prediction Markets App
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently dispatched a small team at his company to create a smartphone app similar to Polymarket and Kalshi, The New York Times reported on Tuesday, citing two employees with knowledge of the matter.
The experimental app is internally referred to as “Arena” and would function independently from Meta’s social networking apps, which include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, stated the report. Meta aims to grow the app by leveraging its large social networking audiences and directing them toward using it.
Prediction markets such as Polymarket and Kalshi, where users can bet on outcomes as varied as the Super Bowl and the length of the State of the Union address, have been some of the fastest growing destinations on the internet, according to the NYT report.
Broader Experimental Push At Meta
The effort, which insiders characterized as experimental but a top priority, is part of a broader push by Zuckerberg to create new types of apps based on emerging social behavior online. However, Meta insiders have reportedly said that Arena remains in development and may not be released.
This is not the first time Meta has experimented with prediction markets. In 2020, it released Forecast, a crowdsourced prediction market app that prompted people to make guesses about the world in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. The app was positioned as a way to share crowdsourced knowledge. It used a points system to make predictions about the future. Meta shuttered the app in 2022, reported NYT.
Since then, prediction markets have exploded into a cultural phenomenon, featured during major sports events and in the Golden Globes telecast. In 2025, Kalshi and Polymarket drew a combined $50 billion in online trades. This year, the total has already surpassed $130 billion, stated the NYT report.
META Stock: What Retail Traders Feel
On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for META was ‘bearish,’ unchanged in the past 24 hours.
Over the past 30 days, message volume around the stock has surged 1,665%, while its retail watcher base rose 0.3% during the same period, and 0.7% in the last 90 days.
The META stock has lost over 14% so far this year.
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