Robinhood just did what Robinhood always does: it found someone else’s business model and decided to build its own version. On June 4, the company began routing select FIFA World Cup prediction market contracts through Rothera, a US derivatives exchange that Robinhood majority-owns, instead of sending them to its existing partner Kalshi.
The move covers the contracts most people actually care about. Individual match outcomes, the overall tournament winner, and total goals scored now flow through Rothera. Meanwhile, player-specific markets and combination bets stay on Kalshi, at least for now.
What Rothera actually is, and why it matters
Rothera is a US derivatives exchange co-owned by Robinhood and Susquehanna International Group, the quantitative trading powerhouse. The partnership dates back to 2025, and this World Cup routing shift represents the first real stress test of whether Rothera can handle high-volume retail prediction market activity.
The timing is deliberate. The 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off in roughly 44 days, which means Robinhood is giving itself a live, high-stakes trial run during one of the most-watched sporting events on the planet.
