Crypto.com is partnering with Hollywood.com to launch an entertainment-based prediction market that will facilitate trades related to films, TV shows, music, awards shows, Broadway shows and more.   

The event contracts will be offered through Crypto.com’s CFTC-registered exchange and clearing house and available on Hollywood.com, an entertainment news site.

In the press release announcing the partnership, Crypto.com Managing Director of Global Head of Capital Markets Travis McGhee and Hollywood.com co-CEO Mitchell Rubenstein both speak of the passion of entertainment fans and the burgeoning popularity of prediction markets.

“Entertainment fans are some of the most passionate consumers and we look forward to providing them a new, legal prediction market specifically tailored to them through a trusted platform,” McGhee says in the statement.

Rubinstein boasts of “launching the first prediction platform dedicated entirely to movies, TV, video gaming, Broadway, pop culture, and celebrities” and “creating an entirely new way for fans to engage with the content they’re passionate about.”

Press release hyperbole notwithstanding, entertainment-based event contracts are not exactly revolutionary. Betting on awards shows like the Oscars is allowed on several legal sports betting states, and there are dozens of entertainment markets on Kalshi and Polymarket.

On Kalshi, for example, participants can bet on:

And here’s a small sampling from Polymarket:      

While sports accounts for the bulk of the trading volume on prediction markets, it’s clear the major players in the space are recognizing the potential in other verticals.

As we write this on Tuesday, Nov. 4, the day elections are being held around the U.S., politics dominate the top markets by volume on both Kalshi and Polymarket.

But prediction markets are feeling plenty of legal heat for offering sports event contracts, and allowing trading on elections was central to Polymarket’s expulsion from the US in 2022.

While it’s questionable whether entertainment can have as big an impact, prediction markets are likely to face less regulatory pushback against entertainment than sports or politics, enhancing the opportunity.

Kalshi has established early dominance, Polymarket looms as a US re-entrant, and FanDuel and DraftKings are teaming up with CFTC-approved exchanges. Crypto.com, though, is a company to watch as prediction markets ascend.

The digital currency exchange partnered with Underdog to offer sports event contracts in 16 states where sports betting is not legal.

More recently, Crypto.com announced a deal with Trump Media to launch Truth Predict, a prediction market that will be offered through Truth Social.

With its new Hollywood.com deal, Crypto.com now has partners in three key prediction market domains.

The post Crypto.com Pushing Further Into Prediction Markets Via Hollywood.com Partnership appeared first on DeFi Rate.

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