NEW YORK — Polymarket and Kalshi, prediction markets on which users can bet on outcomes as varied as the Super Bowl and the length of the State of the Union address, have been some of the fastest growing destinations on the internet. Mark Zuckerberg has noticed — and he wants in on the action.
Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, recently dispatched a small team at his company to create a smartphone application similar to Polymarket and Kalshi, two employees with knowledge of the matter said. Users would not wager money, and the app would probably rely on a video game-like points system instead, one person said, though the company had not ruled out the eventual use of real-money betting.
The app is internally referred to as “Arena” and would function independently from Meta’s social networking apps, which include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, said the employees, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential plans. Meta aims to grow the app by leveraging its large social networking audiences and directing them toward using it, they said.
The effort, which insiders characterised as experimental but a top priority, is part of a broader push by Zuckerberg to create new types of apps based on emerging social behaviour online. More than 3.56 billion people visit one or more of Meta’s apps every day, an amount that has raised questions about whether those platforms have reached a saturation point.
