Israeli Gaming Firm Sunflower Launches Crown Predictions for Forecast Market Testing
Sunflower, an Israeli gaming company known for operating CrownCoinCasino, is set to begin user trials for Crown Predictions, a new forecasting market platform it developed. These initial tests, planned for the coming weeks, will involve existing customers and focus on evaluating the product, user experience, and business model. This marks Sunflower's first venture outside its social casino domain, where it has grown significantly in recent years.
Crown Predictions will operate under a separate brand and concentrate exclusively on prediction markets. According to sources, the platform will not replicate competitors like Polymarket but aims to offer a more game-like user experience. The company is exploring whether its expertise in the Sweepstakes market can be adapted to prediction markets, which have become a major fintech and tech sector over the past two years. These platforms allow users to trade contracts based on the likelihood of future events, including political elections, interest rate decisions, sports, economic, and geopolitical events, with contract prices fluctuating in real time.
Founded in 2023, Sunflower employs around 150 people and has raised approximately $10 million from angel investors such as Gigi Levy Weiss, Tal Shoham, and Elad Kushner. The company is valued between $2 billion and $3 billion. Meanwhile, major tech companies are also entering the prediction market space; Meta recently revealed it is developing an independent forecasting app called Arena, initially without real-money transactions, highlighting growing interest in this sector.
Market data supports this trend, with Bernstein investment bank projecting the prediction market's value to reach about $240 billion by 2026 and grow to $1 trillion by 2030. Polymarket, a leading player, recently surpassed $1 billion in annual revenue and processed $7.1 billion in transactions in May alone, including $1.77 billion in the U.S.
Sunflower's move into prediction markets coincides with regulatory changes affecting the Sweepstakes market, which underpins its current business. This model, combining virtual currencies and Sweepstakes tokens redeemable for cash prizes, operates under U.S. federal law but is regulated at the state level. Several states have recently introduced legislation tightening restrictions, and industry experts expect further regulatory pressure going forward.
