In a landmark collaboration bridging the worlds of online gaming and financial markets, FanDuel and derivatives marketplace operator CME Group have announced a partnership to launch a new event-based trading platform in the United States.
The venture will leverage CME Group’s robust infrastructure and FanDuel’s extensive customer reach to introduce a new, accessible form of financial trading.
The platform will allow customers to trade fully funded contracts by taking simple “yes” or “no” positions on the future outcomes of a wide range of financial benchmarks.
This innovative approach is designed to simplify trading for a broader audience.
The available markets will include major stock indices like the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100, commodities such as oil, gas, and gold, as well as cryptocurrencies and key economic data points like GDP and inflation rates.
The launch of these new contracts is anticipated for later in 2025, subject to a full regulatory review and approval from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
To facilitate this new offering, the two companies will form a joint venture that will operate as a non-clearing futures commission merchant (FCM).
This specific business structure is designed to provide customers with seamless access to the event contracts while adhering to all necessary compliance standards.
Once approved, the new contracts will be officially listed on CME Group exchanges and made available to customers through participating FCMs.
This strategic partnership follows a period of significant corporate activity for FanDuel’s parent company, Flutter Entertainment.
In July 2025, Flutter finalized a $1.755 billion deal to acquire the remaining 5% stake in FanDuel from Boyd Gaming, thereby securing full ownership of the brand.
The move, combined with this new venture, signals a clear strategy by FanDuel to diversify its product offerings and continue its aggressive expansion within the U.S. market, venturing beyond sports betting and into new, regulated trading activities.
Terry Duffy, CME Group Chairman and CEO, said:
Individual investors are increasingly sophisticated and continually pursuing new financial opportunities. Together, our event-based products will appeal to the growing public interest in markets and we will provide education to attract a new generation of potential traders not active in derivatives today.
Amy Howe, FanDuel Group CEO, added:
Partnering with CME Group will unlock our ability to bring even more new and engaging products to FanDuel’s fast-growing customer base. We believe there is potentially a wide audience for trading event-based markets and we want to provide a platform that allows our customers to engage in this activity.
