Justrecently, UK-listed broker IG Group agreed to acquire U.S. prediction marketand fantasy sports platform Underdog for approximately $1.3 billion. This is animportant development because it signals much more than IG's geographicexpansion into North America. It marks the arrival of one of the largesttraditional retail brokers in the rapidly growing event-based trading market.For atleast a year, we have been asking how the growing popularity of predictionmarkets could affect the CFD industry. It now looks like we have the firstclear response from a major CFD broker. Of course, IG is much more than a CFDprovider, but CFDs remain an important part of its business and are at theheart of the company's origins. Who else can follow IG? RobinhoodShows the PotentialGoing backa few days, to the end of July, we received another important piece of newsthat makes IG's move easier to understand. If any company has demonstrated thepotential of event trading, it is Robinhood. In its Q2 2026 results, theplatform reported $156 million in revenue from event contracts, more than tentimes the level recorded a year earlier.Eventcontracts have become one of Robinhood's fastest-growing product lines, evenoutpacing more established areas such as crypto. With 13.6 billion eventcontracts traded in a single quarter, Robinhood has shown that retail tradersare increasingly treating sports, macroeconomic decisions, and politicaloutcomes as another tradable asset class.BrokerExpansion into Prediction MarketsTheconvergence of traditional retail trading and event trading has acceleratedsignificantly over the past year. Rather than building technology from scratchand spending years waiting for regulatory approvals, major market players areincreasingly acquiring existing platforms and infrastructure. October 2025, DraftKings Acquires Railbird (DKeX): Gaming powerhouse DraftKings acquired CFTC-regulated Railbird Technologies, later rebranding it as DKeX to power its nationwide prediction markets engine directly inside its core app.January 2026, Robinhood & Susquehanna Buy MIAXdx (Rothera): Robinhood teamed up with quantitative trading firm Susquehanna International Group to acquire derivatives exchange MIAXdx from Miami International Holdings. Rebranded as Rothera, the joint venture gives Robinhood its own fully controlled, CFTC-licensed exchange and clearinghouse.July 2026, IG Group Agrees to Acquire Underdog: IG Group committed $1.3 billion to buy Underdog, giving the UK CFD pioneer an immediate foot in the door to U.S. retail event trading.WhichBroker Could Move Next?IG Group'sacquisition of Underdog is likely to make other major retail brokers reconsidertheir product strategies. However, not every broker is equally well positionedto take advantage of the growing prediction market sector.Fullanalysis with data can be found on the Finance Magnates Intelligence Portal.This article was written by Sylwester Majewski at www.financemagnates.com.