Mark Zuckerberg wants to enter the world of online betting

Mark Zuckerberg wants to enter the market predictive bets. The CEO of Meta tasked a small team with developing a smartphone app similar to Polymarket e Kalshithe platforms where users can bet on the outcome of any event, from Super Bowl to the duration of the State of the Union address.

The app is called Arena and, at least for now, it does not foresee real money betting but a points system similar to that of video games, although Meta has not ruled out the introduction of real bets in the future. Arena, says the New York Timesis described internally as experimental but is considered one of the group’s next priorities. Zuckerberg, writes the American newspaper, has set an ambitious goal: at least one hundred million monthly active userswith a target demographic between 18 to 34 years old. The platform is designed to allow betting on sports, culture, entertainment, politics and financeto do against friends and family.

Project strategy and vision

Company leaders define it as an app “designed for everyone”. Meta’s CEO also asked his executives to explore possible partnership with Polymarket and Kalshi, although it is not clear how they could actually work. “We believe that i predictive markets are one of the hottest new content formats,” he wrote Ime ArchibongMeta vice president for products and head of the Arena project, in an internal post also cited by the New York Times. “With the right containers, the social conversation it becomes the reward, as people try to prove to their friends how good they are at making predictions.” Archibong summed up the app’s philosophy with a slogan: “Betting as conversation”.

Possible integration with Meta platforms

If launched, Arena will start as standalone app to test user interest, to then be integrated into Facebook e Messengereven within group chats, dei Reelsfrom the Stories and of News Feed. Zuckerberg is convinced that betting behavior can increaseoverall activity on its platforms: users could fuel discussions and share the results of their predictions.

Previous attempts and growth of the industry

It is not the first time that Meta ventures into this territory. In 2020 he had launched Forecasta points-based predictive market app born during the pandemic Covid-19then closed in 2022 without having obtained significant attention to continue development. In the meantime, however, the sector has exploded: in 2025 Kalshi e Polymarket they recorded together fifty billion dollars of tradea figure already exceeded in the first months of 2026 alone, with a total that reached i 130 billion.

Internal doubts and legal issues

The project, writes the Times, has however also raised discussions within Meta. On internal message boards and private chats, some employees have argued that offer predictive markets on the largest social network of the world would represent a step beyond an ethical line, a possible gateway towards other forms of gambling. Others said they were comfortable with the project precisely because, at least in its current form, it does not foresee real money.

Investigations and regulatory pressure

The sector is also under increasing legal pressure. In April, i federal prosecutors in New York they indicted a member of the American special forces for using inside information to bet on Polymarket on the covert operation to capture the Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduroearning more 400 thousand dollars. The episode put the spotlight on the Commodity Futures Trading Commissionthe federal agency that oversees predictive markets. More than a dozen Democratic senators They also wrote to the Senate Subcommittee on Financial Services asking that the CFTC be prevented from obstructing state oversight of the platforms. Arena, for now, remains in internal test phase and, despite Meta’s founder’s wishes, it may never be released.