John McCrank

(Reuters) – The most likely place to bet on sports is through retail brokerages, exchanges, and other intermediaries. Robinhood Markets Inc (NASDAQ:), in the future, said the head of North American markets for Nasdaq Inc on Thursday.

Nasdaq purchased a stake at Sporttrade in June. The start-up has plans to create a New Jersey sports betting app by the end of the year. And last month, the exchange operator claimed it would provide market surveillance technology.

Sports betting can be made more competitive by using an exchange model. The industry is legal in 25 of the 50 states. Large states such as New York, California and Florida are looking into it. Some estimates suggest that it will reach $37 Billion by 2025. This was stated by Tal Cohen at a Securities Traders Association conference.

He said that competition will see liquidity providers (market makers) compete to win business. This means lower prices and odds as well as lower friction.

Hudson (NYSE) River Trading, Tower Research and Tower Research are both proprietary trading companies that create markets for various asset classes through providing two-sided quotes to others. They also invest in Sporttrade.

Cohen said that brokerages such as Robinhood should enter the event- and prediction markets.

According to him, the same segment of customers that are interested in buying Apple (NASDAQ:), bitcoin or other products is also interested Sunday football.

Cohen stated that sports betting will continue to grow regardless of Nasdaq. The exchange operator has the technology necessary for advanced technology, which could make the market more secure and transparent.

He stated that the country will need to consider how to protect investors and avoid creating a culture where bettors are common.