Charles Schwab is working with Cboe Global Markets to let ordinary investors place bets on financial events, Reuters reported on June 19, 2026. Think of it as gambling on outcomes—will the Federal Reserve cut interest rates? Will a company beat earnings estimates?—through a regulated brokerage rather than a specialized betting site.

Schwab has about 35 million customer accounts. Those customers already trade stocks and options through Schwab's platform. Now Schwab and Cboe (which runs the exchange where these options trade) are building the plumbing to let those same customers place bets on specific events.

How This Works Differently

Most prediction markets today use yes-or-no bets. You pick: will X happen or won't it? In March 2026, Cboe announced a new design that allows three possible outcomes instead of two. Why does that matter? A Fed rate decision is a good example. The Fed doesn't just decide "raise rates or don't." It picks an exact number—maybe 4%, maybe 5%. A three-outcome bet can capture that better than a simple yes/no.

Bloomberg reported in April 2026 that Schwab was specifically interested in bets on financial events: Fed decisions, earnings reports, inflation numbers. These are events where a three-outcome structure makes more sense than betting on just two possibilities.

Why Now?

Schwab's CEO, Rick Wurster, said in January 2026 that the company was "absolutely open" to this. By April, it was seriously considering it. By June, it was building it. That happened fast.

Two things changed to make this possible. First, in 2024 a prediction market called Kalshi won a legal battle to list political bets, which gave other platforms permission to do the same. Second, Cboe itself got ready. In October 2025, it hired a new executive to build products for regular investors on alternative topics. That person had previously built options trading tools at TD Ameritrade, which is now owned by Schwab.

What This Means for Investors

For years, prediction markets were stuck in the shadows. Small platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket existed, but they were hard to reach and not many people knew about them. Schwab is one of the world's largest brokerages. Getting this product into Schwab means millions of regular investors could suddenly access it.

That does not guarantee anything will happen quickly, or that regulators will approve it, or that it will become popular. But it is the clearest signal yet that prediction markets on financial events are moving toward the mainstream.