Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has assigned a team to develop Arena, a standalone prediction market app that will allow users to forecast outcomes on politics, sports, entertainment, and world events using a points system instead of real money, according to The New York Times. This project establishes Meta in direct competition with platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi, which have gained popularity since 2024.
Arena is described as experimental but is a top priority for Meta, which aims to leverage its 3.56 billion daily users for adoption. The app will operate independently from Meta’s existing platforms, according to sources familiar with the initiative. Users will earn and spend points within Arena similarly to video game rewards, although Meta is open to the possibility of introducing cash-based betting in the future.
This move aligns with a growing interest in prediction markets, particularly evident during the 2024 U.S. presidential election when Polymarket saw substantial trading volume. As a result, companies like Coinbase, Kraken, and Robinhood have also ventured into prediction market products.
Meta previously launched a product called Forecast in 2020, which enabled users to predict current events during the Covid-19 pandemic, but it was discontinued in 2022. Arena appears to be part of a broader strategy by Zuckerberg to create standalone apps that cater to new online social behaviors, including a project called Meta Photos that focuses on AI-generated media.
Meta plans to direct users from its established social networks to the Arena app, thereby facilitating its introduction to a vast audience. The development underscores Meta’s intent to explore diverse avenues within the tech space as it grapples with increased competition in the prediction market segment.
