The ironic thing about Robinhood’s foray into sports betting is that retail investors have long been stigmatized as inexperienced novices simply gambling away their money, trading on vibes rather than fundamental conviction. Robinhood was not doing them any justice by inserting an actual gambling product into its app.

The CFTC asked the brokerage to stop offering customer access to contracts, warning that they might be illegal blurring of financial markets and gambling.