Robinhood Markets is expanding its relationship with Crypto.com and, as part of that deal, ramping up efforts to grow its prediction markets offering, which enables customers to bet on the outcome of events, including sports.

The brokerage firm said Tuesday that it will begin routing some prediction market contracts to Crypto.com's exchange in time for the start of the professional football season, which kicks off on Wednesday when the Seattle Seahawks host the New England Patriots.

Robinhood said that as part of the new agreement, it will also take equity stakes in Crypto.com and OG.com, a sports-focused prediction market that Crypto.com launched earlier this year and which Crypto.com has spun off as an independent company. Robinhood said the equity stakes will be priced in line with the recent investment of Citadel Securities into Crypto.com Group at a $20 billion valuation.

Shares of Robinhood were down 1% Tuesday midday. The benchmark S&P 500 index was down 0.4%.

Prediction markets allow individuals to wager on the outcome of events using simple yes/no contracts. Sports is by far the most popular events category, and Robinhood has seen a surge in its customers buying and selling sports-related event contracts on its platform. Customers have bought and sold more than 45 billion event contracts on Robinhood since the company launched its offering about two years ago.

The company said that 13.6 billion event contracts were traded on Robinhood during the second quarter, and during the World Cup more than 5 billion contracts were traded. In June, Robinhood began routing some contracts to Rothera, a Commodity Futures Trading Commission-regulated exchange that is a joint venture between Robinhood and Susquehanna International Group. Robinhood also currently routes event contracts to Kalshi and ForecastEX, which is owned by Interactive Brokers.

"Routing event contracts to multiple venues helps create a stronger, more diverse and resilient marketplace," says JB Mackenzie, general manager of Futures and Prediction Markets at Robinhood. "With football back and midterms fast approaching, we're thrilled to team up with Crypto.com and OG.com for what is sure to be an exciting fall for prediction markets on Robinhood."

Kris Marszalek, Founder and CEO of Crypto.com and OG.com, says his company is working to make "OG.com the most liquid venue globally for innovative derivative instruments."

Robinhood has overhauled the user experience for trading professional and college football-related event contracts, and it plans further tweaks, such as adding player stats and team standing data this autumn, the company says.

In addition, it is launching a new election prediction markets hub in time for the 2026 midterm election. Robinhood plans to provide customers with near real-time voting data once polls close on election day. "We believe that observing these midterm prediction markets in real time will be another valuable tool for investors to stay informed early and often in the lead up to, and through election night," the company states in Tuesday's announcement.