Schwab CEO Says Firm ‘Absolutely Open’ to Event-Based Prediction Markets

In a reversal of his earlier stance on prediction markets, Charles Schwab CEO Rick Wurster now says the brokerage firm is “absolutely open” to offering prediction markets on its platform, as long as they’re related to investing and not gambling. 

Wurster made the comments during an interview on Bloomberg TV on January 21, when he explained that Schwab is open to prediction markets that allow investors to take positions on economic indicators such as employment and inflation. He described these types of event contracts as being potential tools to hedge or complement traditional portfolios. 

The CEO’s comments to Bloomberg show that Schwab is softening its attitude toward prediction markets after months of stressing the need for a strict separation between investing and gambling. 

While Wurster said that prediction markets aren’t currently a priority on Schwab’s product roadmap, his remarks suggest the company is leaving the door open as investor interest in event-based contracts increases on financial and trading platforms. 

Wurster Draws Line at Sports Gambling

One thing Wurster has remained consistent about is his opposition to the sports contracts offered on prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket, as well as on retail trading platforms such as Robinhood. The Schwab CEO had previously been critical of prediction markets for being almost entirely sports gambling, and based on his interview with Bloomberg, that opinion hasn’t changed. 

While speaking to Bloomberg, Wurster made a point of explaining the differences between prediction markets rooted in financial data and what he described as the gambling-driven products that dominate today’s platforms. 

“To me, prediction markets in the way they started were about being able to forecast like employment or inflation and being able to take a point of view or position on those,” Wurster said. “And that could somehow hedge or accentuate the positions in your investment portfolio.” He added that Schwab would be open to hosting those types of markets, saying, “I think that makes sense within the context of an investment portfolio, and we’re absolutely open to having that on our platform.”

However, Wurster believes that prediction markets have moved away from their original purpose. “If you look at 95% of the volume of what people call prediction markets, it’s actually just sports gambling,” he said, calling that segment incompatible with Schwab’s mission.

“Our mission as a firm is to make clients better off in their financial life,” Wurster said. “Less than 5% of people who go on to one of these gambling apps take out more money than they put in in the first place. That’s the complete antithesis of what we do at Schwab.”

Clear Change From Schwab’s Earlier Stance

Even if Wurster’s opinion on sports contracts hasn’t changed, his comments to Bloomberg represent a shift from his earlier position, when he publicly rejected the idea of Schwab following its rivals into prediction markets. 

In a December 2025 interview with The Wall Street Journal, Wurster said there was “a really bright line between investing and gambling” and warned against sending younger investors the message that financial success comes from chasing quick wins. 

At the time, he said Schwab wouldn’t enter the event contract space, and as he did in previous interviews, tied that decision to sports betting, a business he said Schwab had no interest in pursuing. While it appears Wurster isn’t going to budge on sports-related markets, his latest remarks show that Schwab is at least willing to consider narrowly defined, economically focused prediction markets if they align with its customers’ long-term investment goals. 

However, don’t expect to see prediction markets on Schwab anytime soon. That’s because, as Wurster puts it, “At the moment, it’s not high on our clients’ list of things they want us to innovate for them, so we have focused our innovations in other areas that are of more interest to clients.”