NFL and midterm elections set up prediction markets for a critical fall season

Prediction markets that rode politics and sports to new heights the past two years are betting on their convergence this autumn to drive even more adoption. In 2024, event contract exchanges entered the mainstream with trades tied to the presidential election that year. Then, in September 2025, the start of the NFL season a year ago marked the beginning of a surge in prediction market trading volume that has yet to slow down. Prediction markets began another NFL season on Wednesday night , when the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks dueled it out in a rematch of the 2026 Super Bowl. Labor Day also marked what political observers always consider the start of the midterm election campaign season .