Fantasy, social sportsbook and casino Betr, founded by YouTube influencer Jake Paul, has acquired CFTC-registered Ascent Capital, opening the door for a tilt towards prediction market services.
The introducing broker (IB) Ascent Capital is also registered with the National Futures Association (NFA) and will allow Betr to extend its offering.
Contracts to focus on sports and politics
Founded in August 2022, Betr has over a million paying users and refers to itself as a real-money gaming “super app” operator. It now aims to launch event contracts across a wide range of categories, including sports, politics, and culture, by year-end.
CEO of Bet, Joey Levy, says the move is a “major milestone” for the company. In a statement, he said: “Prediction markets represent one of the most exciting evolutions in interactive entertainment and financial technology. By securing IB registration through the acquisition of an established broker, we can now focus entirely on launching a seamless, compliant prediction markets experience powered by Polymarket.”
The operator is entering a crowded prediction market sector that includes DraftKings, FanDuel and Fanatics, which launched platforms in late 2025. Kalshi and Polymarket are among the best-known exchanges, while Coinbase, Crypto.com and Robinhood also offer event contracts.
Daily fantasy sports operators PrizePicks and Underdog have added sports-based contracts to their apps. The sector has surged in popularity over the past 15 months, driven largely by sports trading.
Prediction markets have surged in popularity, with global trading volume rising more than 400% from 2024 to 2025 to nearly $64 billion, according to Next.io.
Monthly volume climbed from less than $100 million in early 2024 to more than $13 billion by December 2025. Sports event contracts accounted for more than 80% of all trading activity, including more than $6 billion wagered during the most recent Super Bowl and a single-day record exceeding $1 billion.
Betr now live in 30 states
Earlier this year, Paul confirmed Betr had launched its social casino product in more than 30 states, considered a significant expansion for the gaming company
The social casino is the fourth gambling-related product under the Betr brand, joining Betr Picks, Betr Social Sportsbook and Betr Arcade.
Speaking at the Next Summit in New York back in March, Levy said Betr had expanded from one nationwide gaming product a year ago to four offerings integrated into a single app with a shared wallet system.
He said: “I remember coming to this conference last year. We only had Betr Picks. Today, just a year later, we have Betr Picks in 34 states, we have Betr Social Sportsbook in 32 states, we have Betr Arcade in 38 states, we soft-launched our social casino. So we literally went from just one nationwide gaming product to four, all within the same app with a consolidated wallet experience.”.
Levy said the company aims to combine all five products, including prediction markets, into a single “super app,” arguing consumers prefer a unified platform rather than managing multiple gaming apps and wallets.
Polymarket debuts private company prediction markets
Earlier in the week, Betr’s new prediction market Polymarket markets tied to private company performance through a partnership with Nasdaq Private Market.
The new offerings will allow users to trade on outcomes linked to private companies, including valuation milestones, IPO timing and secondary market activity. Nasdaq Private Market will provide the data used to resolve the contracts, the companies said.
Prediction markets have gained traction in recent years as traders increasingly speculate on the outcomes of events ranging from elections and sports to cryptocurrencies and economic indicators. Industry trading volume has surged sharply since 2024.
Polymarket said the private company contracts could also serve as an additional price-discovery tool for institutional investors as interest in private markets continues to grow.
The launch comes as startups stay private longer and reach larger valuations before going public. Polymarket said nearly 1,600 unicorn companies globally, which refers tp startups valued at more than $1 billion, now represent more than $5 trillion in combined value.
Critics say private-company prediction markets could raise insider trading and market manipulation concerns because private firms disclose limited information and access is often concentrated among employees and investors with nonpublic knowledge.
Regulators are also expected to scrutinize how such contracts are priced, resolved and monitored, particularly as prediction markets expand beyond sports and politics into financial markets. Supporters argue the contracts improve price discovery by reflecting investor expectations in real time, similar to public markets.
