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“We’ve listened carefully to feedback from our customers,” Instacart said in its statement. “And we understand that the tests we ran with a small number of retail partners that resulted in different prices for the same item at the same store missed the mark for some customers. At a time when families are working exceptionally hard to stretch every grocery dollar, those tests raised concerns, leaving some people questioning the prices they see on Instacart. That’s not okay—especially for a company built on trust, transparency, and affordability.”

Instacart has not yet responded to CR’s questions about whether it would allow grocery retailers or food manufacturers to run price experiments with promotions and discounts on its platform.

Instacart’s reversal follows nearly two weeks of blowback from U.S. consumers, regulators, and politicians, many of whom objected to the use of algorithms, AI, and customer data to help set prices.

On Dec. 9, the day our findings were published, Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., announced he was sponsoring the One Fair Price Act, which would prevent companies from using consumers’ personal data to set individualized prices. The legislation has since gained two additional co-sponsors, Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., and has been referred to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Separately, in Pennsylvania, a state senator cited our reports in announcing a plan to introduce similar legislation that would ban “surveillance pricing,” the use of personal data or demographic information, shopping history, and buyer behavior to set prices.

In the two weeks after we published our findings, at least 12 members of Congress followed suit with formal letters to Instacart and/or the FTC, which regulates U.S. grocery stores. The ranking member of the House Committee on Agriculture, Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., sent a letter to Instacart, reiterating our findings and requesting answers from the company regarding its pricing practices by mid-January. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., sent a separate letter to the FTC, requesting that the agency investigate the company. A group of four Democratic House members who call themselves the Monopoly Busters Caucus, including Craig, released a statement calling for the FTC and state regulators to “immediately investigate Instacart and hold it accountable for ripping off its customers.”

And a group of seven Democratic senators—including Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Booker, ranking members of two separate subcommittees on privacy, technology, antitrust, and consumer rights issues—wrote to FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson, a Republican appointed by former President Joe Biden and elevated to chair by President Donald Trump. Their letter raised concerns about Instacart’s pricing practices and asked the FTC to investigate.

“We are deeply concerned that Instacart’s pricing tactics may result in higher food prices, less competition, fewer opportunities to comparison shop, more incentive for companies to collect sensitive personal data, and increased customer confusion—potentially in violation of the FTC Act,” the letter from the seven senators says.

The FTC Act includes several provisions that prohibit “unfair or deceptive” commercial practices and allows the agency to enforce those laws and seek financial relief and penalties. 

On Dec. 17, Reuters reported that the FTC had launched an investigation into Instacart’s pricing technology in response to our article and research. In a statement to CR the next day, the FTC wrote that it doesn’t comment on potential or ongoing investigations but “like so many Americans, we are disturbed by what we have read in the press about Instacart’s alleged pricing practices.”

Last week, in an unrelated case, the FTC and Instacart agreed to settle a case in which the regulator alleged that Instacart had advertised free delivery services and then charged consumers to have groceries delivered, and also failed to disclose to consumers who signed up for a free trial that they would be automatically enrolled in its subscription program. As part of a proposed settlement, Instacart will refund $60 million to customers who were charged for Instacart+ without their express informed consent, and the company is prohibited from “making misrepresentations concerning the costs of delivery services and satisfaction guarantees.”

NEW YORK AND CHICAGO, December 22, 2025 – Today, FanDuel, the premier online  gaming company in North America and part of Flutter Entertainment (NYSE: FLUT, LSE: FLTR),  and CME Group (NASDAQ: CME), the world’s leading derivatives marketplace, launched  FanDuel Predicts in Alabama, Alaska, South Carolina, North Dakota and South Dakota,  beginning a phased national rollout over the coming weeks. FanDuel Predicts will expand  access to financial and sports markets for millions of U.S. customers over the coming months. 

FanDuel Predicts will provide customers with a platform to express their views on the day’s  biggest stories across financial indicators, cultural moments and sports. This new mobile  application will be available in the Apple App Store and Google Play and will integrate  FanDuel’s “Know Your Customer” sign-up process, requiring customers to submit their birth  date, Social Security number, home address, banking information and a government-issued ID.  Once the Predicts account is created, customers can buy or sell event contracts ranging in price  from as little as $0.01 to $0.99 by choosing “Yes” if they think an event will happen or “No” if  they don’t. 

The platform will offer event contracts in all 50 states on benchmarks such as the S&P 500 and  Nasdaq-100, prices of oil and gas, gold, cryptocurrencies, and key economic indicators such as  GDP and CPI. In addition to financial markets, sports contracts will be available across baseball,  basketball, football, and hockey in states where online sports betting is not yet legal, except on  tribal lands. As new states legalize online sports betting, FanDuel Predicts will cease offering  sports event contracts in those states. 

“We’re giving our customers a new platform to engage with the world around them – whether  that’s the next Fed rate decision or a sports event,” said James Cooper, Senior Vice President,  Flywheel and New Ventures at FanDuel. “This launch in five states will provide valuable insights  into customer engagement with this new platform, enabling us to refine our approach as we  expand to additional states in 2026.” 

“CME Group prediction markets will enable a new generation of users to express their views on  global benchmarks, economic indicators, sports and more,” said Lynne Fitzpatrick, President and  Chief Financial Officer, CME Group. “This launch is a pivotal step for expanding the reach of our  products to FanDuel’s millions of registered users across the U.S.”  

The rollout of FanDuel Predicts will continue to other states through early 2026. 

FanDuel will extend its commitment to consumer protection to the FanDuel Predicts app. At  launch, customers will be able to set deposit limits, deposit alerts or self-exclude if needed with  mental health services provided by Kindbridge Behavior Health. 

About FanDuel 

FanDuel Group is America’s premier mobile gaming company, consisting of a portfolio of  leading brands across mobile wagering including America’s #1 Sportsbook FanDuel  Sportsbook, its leading iGaming platform FanDuel Casino, the industry leader in horseracing  and advance-deposit wagering FanDuel Racing, and its daily fantasy sports product. In addition,  FanDuel Group operates FanDuel TV, its broadly distributed linear cable television network, and  FanDuel TV+, its leading direct-to-consumer OTT platform. FanDuel Group has a presence  across all 50 states with approximately 17 million customers and 25 retail locations. The  company is based in New York with offices in Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Jersey City. 

About CME Group 

As the world’s leading derivatives marketplace, CME Group (www.cmegroup.com)  enables clients to trade futures, options, cash and OTC markets, optimize portfolios, and  analyze data – empowering market participants worldwide to efficiently manage risk and capture  opportunities. CME Group exchanges offer the widest range of global benchmark products  across all major asset classes based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, cryptocurrencies, energy, agricultural products and metals. The company offers  futures and options on futures trading through the CME Globex platform, fixed income trading  via BrokerTec and foreign exchange trading on the EBS platform. In addition, it operates one of  the world’s leading central counterparty clearing providers, CME Clearing.  

CME Group, the Globe logo, CME, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Globex, and E-mini are trademarks of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. CBOT and Chicago Board of Trade are  trademarks of Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Inc. NYMEX, New York Mercantile  Exchange and ClearPort are trademarks of New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. COMEX is a  trademark of Commodity Exchange, Inc. BrokerTec is a trademark of BrokerTec Americas LLC  and EBS is a trademark of EBS Group LTD. The S&P 500 Index is a product of S&P Dow Jones  Indices LLC (“S&P DJI”). “S&P®”, “S&P 500®”, “SPY®”, “SPX®”, US 500 and The 500 are  trademarks of Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC; Dow Jones®, DJIA® and Dow Jones Industrial Average are service and/or trademarks of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. These trademarks have been licensed for use by Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. Futures  contracts based on the S&P 500 Index are not sponsored, endorsed, marketed, or promoted by S&P DJI, and S&P DJI makes no representation regarding the advisability of investing in such products. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. 

Media Contacts: 

Alex Pitocchelli, FanDuel 
press@fanduel.com

Laurie Bischel, CME Group 
news@cmegroup.com

Investor Contacts: 
Paul Tymms, Flutter 
Ciara O’Mullane, Flutter 
Chris Hancox, Flutter 
investor.relations@flutter.com

Adam Minick, CME Group 
investors@cmegroup.com

CME-G

SOURCE CME Group