Meta Internally Tests Prediction Market App 'Takes' With Points, Not Cash

Meta has begun internal testing of a prediction market app, called Takes, that lets employees wager virtual "cred" points on event outcomes rather than real money, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The structure mirrors mainstream money-based platforms: correct predictions earn cred, incorrect ones lose points. The trial advances a project first reported in June under the name Arena, when the Journal reported that CEO Mark Zuckerberg had directed employees to build a standalone prediction market app using points. At that stage, Meta had not ruled out eventually allowing real-money betting.

The current report does not say whether real-money contracts remain on the table. Meta declined to comment and offered no timetable for a public release.

Why points instead of cash?

The design choice is hardly accidental. Real-money prediction market operators Kalshi and Polymarket are defending lawsuits from state authorities that accuse them of offering illegal gambling. Both platforms argue their event contracts are legal derivatives that fall under federal, not state, jurisdiction.

A points-based product lets Meta build the interface, liquidity mechanics and user behavior data without touching the contested question of whether event contracts constitute gambling under state law. For a company of Meta's scale, that separation removes the single largest regulatory obstacle to entry.

What does this change for practitioners?

For incumbent platforms, Meta's entry signals that prediction markets are now viewed as a mainstream consumer category rather than a crypto-adjacent niche. Meta's roughly three billion users across its apps mean any eventual launch would dwarf the current customer base of Kalshi, Polymarket and Kalshi's exchange-listed competitors combined. Points-based testing also suggests a possible path: social-first engagement first, monetization later, once the legal framework settles.

For regulators and state enforcers, a Big Tech entrant choosing points over cash is a tacit acknowledgment that the state-level gambling claims carry real weight, whatever their ultimate legal merit.

CFTC chair calls for Supreme Court resolution

The state-federal conflict drew a sharp public intervention on Friday. Commodity and Futures Trading Commission Chair Michael Selig, speaking at the Cantor Convergence conference, criticized states for pursuing criminal charges against prediction market executives and said the disputes belong before the Supreme Court.

"Somebody says it's gambling, somebody says it's a derivative," Selig said. "That's not something that should be at the risk of going to jail."

Selig's remarks mark the clearest signal yet that the federal regulator intends to defend its jurisdiction over event contracts against state prosecutors, raising the stakes for the pending litigation against Kalshi and Polymarket.

The open question

Meta has committed to nothing publicly: no launch date, no confirmation of real-money plans, no statement beyond a decline to comment. What exists is an internal trial, a points economy and a June directive from Zuckerberg that, per the earlier reporting, left real-money wagering as a future option.

The practical timeline now runs through the courts. If Kalshi and Polymarket prevail on federal preemption grounds, the real-money path for a Meta product clears considerably; if states win, points-based models become the ceiling for mainstream distribution. Watch the state lawsuits and any certiorari petition for the Supreme Court window Selig has invited.