DraftKings’s strategy to become the leader in prediction markets is to do exactly what it did to dominate the online sports betting industry.
The company is gearing up to operate in all 50 states, something that seemed like a long way off just 12 months ago, due to varying regulations. As federal policymakers grapple with how to regulate predictions markets, DraftKings is going all-in on its predictions product and aims to overtake industry leader Kalshi.
Its first step is to make the look and feel of the platform a mirror of its sports-betting operations.
“We know the minds of a fan who wants to get in on the action,” DraftKings’ head of Predictions, Jeanine Hightower-Sellitto, said. “That’s how we’re building Predictions. It will feel like DraftKings.”
DraftKings tapped into its existing infrastructure and user base from daily fantasy sports to secure a place for itself in the online gaming industry, and compete with FanDuel to be the biggest online sports betting operator. It now plans to use that same successful playbook for it expands into prediction markets.
The Boston-based company said Monday it will integrate its prediction markets platform, which it launched in December, into its core app. The new app will be called DraftKings Sports & Casino, removing the word “sportsbook” to reflect the fact that prediction markets aren’t legally classified as gambling.
“We will now have a sports product everywhere for customers across the country,” Chief Executive Jason Robins said in an interview.
In 17 states where DraftKings isn’t a licensed betting operator, users will only be able to access its predictions product on the app. The product will look similar to the sports-betting platform, but players will put money on outcomes of events, rather than betting against a sportsbook. That way they can place money, or “trade,” on whether they think a team will win or a player will score a certain number of points.
The goal is to follow the same strategy DraftKings used to become one of the top U.S. sports-betting platforms. Right now, sporting events are the most popular category to trade in prediction markets.
Robins said he is primarily focused on building out predictions markets for sports events, rather than political or cultural events. He estimates prediction markets may represent a $10 billion revenue opportunity for the company.
Until now, betting companies like DraftKings had to fight on a state-by-state basis to gain operating licenses. DraftKings’s latest move represents a significant shortcut to accessing potentially lucrative states like California, Florida and Texas. Its most recent launch in Missouri took more than a year to roll out after the state approved sports gambling in November 2024.
Because prediction markets aren’t subject to state taxes, they are expected to have margins that are 10 to 30 percentage points higher than traditional sports betting, DraftKings said. Later this year, the company also plans to debut “combos,” which is the equivalent of betting parlay. Parlays wrap multiple bets into one and are especially profitable for DraftKings because they tend to favor the sportsbook.
The biggest challenges will be building out the product, developing its technology and ramping up marketing in new markets, Robins said. “It’s just getting it done, just a matter of time,” he said.
He expects the fully integrated app will be ready before the new NFL season begins later this year, with combos launching some time in the second quarter, he added.
The potential spoils from prediction markets haven’t done much to help DraftKings. In February, the company’s financial outlook for 2026 came in below Wall Street estimates. Robins told investors at the time that he wasn’t including any potential revenue from prediction markets in that guidance.
Investors have gotten impatient about DraftKings’s prediction markets timeline. Shares lost about 10% of their value in 2025 as the company delayed entering the industry for fear of ruining relationships with state regulators.
The main concern now is that DraftKings is losing customers to competitors such as Kalshi, a private company that is considered the current leader in prediction markets. Kalshi was an early mover in the industry, gaining popularity around the 2024 presidential election.
Robins said that once prediction markets are integrated into DraftKings’ core app, the company will be on its way to having the best product on the market.
“We’re probably less than a year behind Kalshi and we’re ahead of everybody else at this point,” Robins said.
