DraftKings launches prediction markets product through CME partnership
DraftKings launched DraftKings Predictions on July 29 through a partnership with CME Group. The product offers event contracts to users in available jurisdictions. DraftKings plans to add Railbird's markets by year-end. The launch represents a shift from sportsbooks' previous opposition to prediction markets toward building their own regulated event-contract products. CME Group supplies the clearing infrastructure for the platform.
DraftKings' entry changes the competitive map for regulated event contracts. Sportsbooks once lobbied against prediction markets; now they are racing to own the vertical. DraftKings brings a massive user base and brand recognition that pure-play platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket cannot match. The CME partnership gives DraftKings the same clearing rail that FanDuel Predicts already uses, creating a sportsbook-CME standard that could dominate if Congress bans sports event contracts.
The bipartisan Senate bill threatens to strip the core sports vertical nationwide. DraftKings must convert sports bettors into event-contract traders before any ban takes effect, or lose the migration window to FanDuel and Robinhood. Its plan to integrate Railbird's markets by year-end suggests DraftKings sees consolidation, not organic growth, as the fastest path to scale. The sportsbook that builds the deepest event-contract menu first will retain the most users if federal law forces a pivot.
DraftKings joins FanDuel and Robinhood in launching CFTC-regulated event contracts through the CME, making it the third major sportsbook to build a regulated prediction-markets product rather than fight the category.