FanDuel, the U.S.-based online gaming leader under Flutter Entertainment, and CME Group, the global derivatives marketplace, have unveiled a partnership that will see the two companies build a joint venture focused on offering event-based financial products to American retail customers.
The new collaboration aims to deliver fully funded, straightforward trading contracts tied to widely followed market benchmarks. These products will allow individuals to take clear “yes” or “no” positions on outcomes across various financial indicators—such as equity indices like the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100, commodity prices including oil and gold, cryptocurrencies, and macroeconomic data like GDP and inflation.
Expected to debut later in 2025, these event contracts are pending review and approval by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Once approved, they will be listed on CME Group exchanges and accessible through participating futures commission merchants (FCMs).
Expanding Access Through Innovation and Compliance
The collaboration will also involve the creation of a non-clearing FCM under a newly established joint venture. This entity will serve as the operational backbone for the event-based products, helping bridge FanDuel’s extensive user base with CME Group’s infrastructure and compliance expertise.
Terry Duffy, Chairman and CEO of CME Group, emphasized the growing demand among individual investors for accessible and transparent financial instruments. “Individual investors are increasingly sophisticated and continually pursuing new financial opportunities,”Duffy said. “To meet this demand, we have created this innovative partnership, which will operate a non-clearing FCM. 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.”
FanDuel CEO Amy Howe echoed this sentiment, highlighting the appeal of simplified market participation. “Partnering with CME Group will unlock our ability to bring even more new and engaging products to FanDuel’s fast-growing customer base,” Howe stated. “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.”
Simple, Accessible Trades for a Broad User Base
A key feature of these new contracts is their accessibility: customers will be able to participate for as little as $1. This low barrier to entry is intended to attract both experienced traders and casual participants, opening up regulated financial markets to a much broader demographic than traditional derivatives products.
Both firms are aiming to combine FanDuel’s familiarity with customer engagement and CME Group’s deep regulatory background to craft an offering that is both innovative and responsible.
FanDuel’s Corporate Momentum Continues
This strategic move comes on the heels of FanDuel’s parent company Flutter Entertainment finalizing its acquisition of the remaining 5% stake in FanDuel from Boyd Gaming in July 2025 for $1.755 billion. Despite the sale, Boyd Gaming extended its strategic agreement with Flutter through 2038, solidifying long-term cooperation even after ceding full ownership.
As regulatory review progresses, the event contracts platform is positioned to become a significant development in retail financial engagement, blending simplicity, transparency, and compliance for the modern trader.
Source:
“CME Group and FanDuel Partner to Develop Innovative Event Contracts Platform”, prnewswire.com, August 20, 2025
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