FanDuel recently rolled out its prediction market platform, FanDuel Predicts, in five states, promising more to come in 2026. Fellow mobile sportsbook titans, DraftKings and Fanatics, have also launched their prediction market brands.
Taking It Slow
DraftKings launched its DraftKings Predictions app in 38 states earlier this month, offering sports event trading to only those 17 states that haven’t legalized sports betting, including California, Texas, and Florida. It is a caveat that its other competitors, Fanatics and FanDuel, have also promised to state regulators where they operate, wishing to avoid the same legal wrath they have rained down on prediction markets like Kalshi.
However, FanDuel is taking a much more measured approach, opting instead to roll out its app in just five states, including Alabama, Alaska, North Dakota, South Carolina, and South Dakota, via a partnership with the CME Group.
FanDuel’s Strategy and Timeline
James Cooper, senior vice president of flywheel and new ventures at FanDuel, said, “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. 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.”
FanDuel has addressed at least some of the concerns uttered by state legislators and critics by implementing its responsible gaming and consumer protection tools found inside its sportsbook app to its futures market platform, FanDuel Predicts. Customers will be able to set deposit limits and alerts, self-exclude themselves from contract trading, and access mental health resources through FanDuel’s relationship with Kindbridge Behavioral Health.
The company also released a statement saying it would rein in its prediction market app as more states legalized mobile sports betting. “As new states legalize online sports betting, FanDuel will cease offering sports event contracts in those states.”
Building a Clientele
Much like DraftKings and FanDuel did with their millions of daily fantasy sports (DFS) customers, transitioning them to sports betting customers, the same is true of their burgeoning prediction market customer database. As DraftKings, Fanatics, and FanDuel’s prediction markets receive signups in jurisdictions that do not have access to legal sports betting, they will follow the same blueprint and transition them into sports betting customers once their states legalize the practice.
“You’re building the database, you’re offering more products, and you’re opening the consumer’s wallet all in one swoop,” said Jordan Bender, a senior equity analyst at Citizens, covering the gambling industry.
Prediction Markets Accelerate Sports Betting Expansion
Bender has also opined that the growing popularity of prediction markets and the mobile sportsbooks that are entering those legally barren sports betting markets under those prediction market banners will expedite the proliferation of mobile sports betting throughout the nation.
As more prediction markets flood the marketplace in areas that have not legalized sports betting, Bender says it “basically gives the (mobile sports betting) industry ammo to go to these states and say, ‘Look at all the tax revenue you’re not capturing. Let’s come up with a legal framework.”
