Optimove Partners with Plaee to Bring Prediction Markets to Its Global Operator Network

Plaee is putting its white-label prediction-market infrastructure in front of some of the gambling industry’s biggest operators through a new partnership with Optimove, offering a potentially faster route into federally regulated markets.

Optimove, a player-engagement and customer relationship management provider, counts bet365, Entain and Stake among its clients, according to its website, along with US operators such as Caesars Entertainment. The deal announced Thursday doesn’t commit any of them to launching prediction markets, but it gives established sportsbook and casino brands a ready-made way to test the category without building an exchange or registering as an intermediary.

“In conversations with iGaming operators and industry leaders, we keep hearing the same thing: they see real opportunity in prediction markets, but they want to enter the category the right way — with the patience and scrutiny regulation demands. Historically, that meant eighteen months standing up an exchange before you could even launch,” Meryl Serouya, senior director of global partnerships at Optimove, said in a news release.

“Plaee addresses those issues. What we add is everything that happens after launch. A new vertical only pays off if you know who to bring into it, how to onboard them, and what brings them back. That’s the part sophisticated operators do not improvise.”

The move comes one week after the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) provided new clarity for third-party software providers wanting to integrate prediction markets, giving qualifying companies a path to do so without applying for the usual intermediary registration.

Plaee provides the trading interface and back-office systems, while giving operators access to liquidity and event contracts listed on Crypto.com | Derivatives North America (CDNA), a CFTC-regulated exchange.

Optimove, meanwhile, provides Plaee with a distribution channel into an established network of sports betting and online casino companies. The company says it serves more than half of the EGR Power 50, an annual ranking of the online gambling industry’s most powerful operators. Those brands now have access to Plaee’s turnkey prediction-market technology should they choose to integrate it.

Plaee CEO and founder Leon Okun said the combined offering would allow operators to add prediction markets “in a matter of weeks, with a full-funnel acquisition and retention engine ready to go on day 1.”

CFTC relief opens wider distribution path

The Optimove agreement lands one week after the CFTC gave third-party software providers a clearer route to give customers access to regulated event contracts without registering as introducing brokers (IBs) via a Sept. 17 no-action letter. IBs act as intermediaries that solicit or accept customer orders but do not hold customer funds, and generally must register with the CFTC through the National Futures Association (NFA).

As NEXTPredict reported when the relief was issued, the change could allow sportsbooks, fantasy platforms, media companies, crypto wallets and other consumer-facing businesses to embed access to prediction markets without each partner becoming a registered intermediary.

Under Staff Letter 26-25, the CFTC’s Market Participants Division said it would not recommend enforcement against qualifying “passive software providers” for failing to register as IBs solely because they engage in covered activities.

Those providers can offer trading interfaces, promote specific contracts, direct users to particular registered firms and receive transaction-based fees or revenue sharing. The relief comes with a number of conditions, including requirements that:

• Traders must become direct customers or members of the regulated firm providing access to the contracts, rather than customers of the software provider.

• Providers disclose their relationships with registered firms, including potential conflicts and fees.

• Providers follow applicable CFTC and NFA standards for marketing and public communications.

• Providers and their registered partners agree to joint responsibility for violations connected to the covered activities.

• Providers maintain required records and file notice with the CFTC agreeing to the conditions and the agency’s jurisdiction.

The provider must also remain passive when it comes to individual trades. It cannot hold customer assets, exercise discretion over order routing or execution or otherwise become involved in individual orders.

Plaee already offered a non-IB route

Plaee had already been building a US prediction-market model that did not necessarily require its operator partners to become registered intermediaries.

The company partnered with CDNA in January, giving Plaee customers access to its federally regulated event contracts and liquidity. Plaee said at the time that the arrangement was designed to reduce regulatory complexity and allow operators, fintech platforms and trading firms to add prediction markets without building the underlying infrastructure themselves.

Plaee’s technology can support US clients operating under different regulatory structures, including clients already registered as IBs or futures commission merchants (FCMs). But it describes operating as a third-party service provider as its “most common option,” allowing a company to offer a branded interface powered by Crypto.com’s regulated infrastructure.

That model has already reached the market. BitMart US launched a Plaee-powered prediction-market offering in June with approximately 405 event markets across sports, economics, politics and crypto. The markets were integrated into BitMart’s existing platform rather than offered through a separate prediction-market app.

The CFTC’s Sept. 17 relief now provides a more clearly defined regulatory framework for companies pursuing this type of third-party distribution model. 

NEXTPredict reached out to Plaee for more information on how the new CFTC relief affects its business model and whether its operator partners are expected to use the passive-software-provider framework. We will update this story with their response. 

Prediction market entry gets easier

Companies entering prediction markets have usually taken one of two more traditional routes: become or acquire a CFTC-regulated exchange capable of listing event contracts, or register as an intermediary that can offer contracts from an existing exchange.

Both routes require time and regulatory work. Robinhood initially entered prediction markets through its registered FCM, carrying contracts from Kalshi and other exchanges. More recently, Betr acquired an already registered IB to offer Polymarket US contracts rather than wait for its own registration process to play out.

The CFTC’s new passive-software-provider relief potentially removes that intermediary-registration step for qualifying companies. Plaee then adds another layer of convenience by providing the technology, interface and connection to CDNA’s contracts.

That could make the path much more direct for an existing gaming company. In theory, a large Optimove client such as bet365 or Stake now has a potential path to integrate a branded Plaee prediction-market product without becoming a CFTC-regulated exchange or registered intermediary, provided the arrangement meets the conditions of the CFTC’s no-action relief.

“Optimove’s operators are exactly the audience Plaee is built for,” said Okun. “These are smart operators with an established brand and an existing customer base who want to add prediction markets without starting from zero.”

CFTC broadens earlier no-action relief

The CFTC’s latest relief grew out of an individual no-action letter issued to crypto wallet provider Phantom in March. That decision allowed Phantom to connect customers with regulated derivatives markets without registering as an IB, provided it stayed within limits around custody, order handling and customer relationships.

Other industry participants, including ProphetX, later urged the agency to extend similar treatment to other qualifying software providers. By Sept. 17, the CFTC had done so, creating the passive-software-provider framework that companies like Plaee and its partners could potentially use today.

With the relief now available to qualifying software providers and Plaee offering a ready-made route into CDNA’s markets, the practical barriers to prediction-market entry could be considerably lower for iGaming companies and other consumer-facing platforms.