FanDuel Predicts, the dedicated prediction-market app from FanDuel parent Flutter Entertainment, launched nationwide in early 2026 with sports event contracts available in 18 states. The product runs on clearing infrastructure provided by CME Group, marking one of the most significant institutional partnerships in the prediction-market category to date.
The app is available to users 18 and older across all 50 states, though the event-contract product set varies by jurisdiction. Sports contracts are live only in the 18 states that currently permit sports event contracts under FanDuel’s regulatory posture. Macro, political, and entertainment contracts are broadly available where state regulators have not raised objections.
The CME Group partnership
CME Group serves as the clearinghouse and exchange infrastructure underneath FanDuel Predicts, putting the contracts on regulated futures-market rails. The arrangement gives FanDuel access to CME’s settlement systems, contract-listing capabilities, and federal regulatory umbrella as a CFTC-designated contract market.
The partnership is structurally similar to how some institutional prediction-market plays have been built — sportsbook-brand front-end, regulated-exchange back-end — but at a meaningfully larger scale than prior attempts. FanDuel brings an existing US user base of more than 17 million across its sportsbook and DFS products. CME brings clearinghouse infrastructure that has settled regulated derivatives for decades.
The 18-state sports map
Sports event contracts on FanDuel Predicts are live in 18 states as of launch, a number that reflects FanDuel’s case-by-case regulatory posture rather than the broader legal question. Several states have issued cease-and-desist letters to prediction-market operators offering sports contracts, and federal court rulings affirming CFTC preemption are still working through appellate processes in some jurisdictions.
FanDuel has not published the full state list, but the available-state count puts FanDuel Predicts behind DraftKings Predictions, which launched with sports contracts in 17 of 38 total available states. The two sportsbook-brand entrants are now the dominant non-Kalshi sports-event-contract platforms in the US market.
18+ eligibility vs. 21+ for sportsbook
The age-eligibility split is one of the more important consumer-facing distinctions. FanDuel Sportsbook requires users to be 21 or older in nearly every state where it operates. FanDuel Predicts is open to users 18 and older nationwide.
The split reflects the regulatory framing: sports betting is state-regulated and most state sports-betting laws set the age floor at 21, while event contracts under CFTC oversight follow federal futures-market norms that have historically allowed 18-plus participation. FanDuel has not announced age-verification changes to its existing sportsbook product.
“The 18-plus age tier opens a demographic that sportsbooks have never legally been able to reach in the US. Whether that demographic actually shows up for prediction markets is a different question — but the structural advantage is real.”
The $25 sign-up bonus
FanDuel is offering a $25 sign-up bonus to new FanDuel Predicts users, redeemable as a deposit match or a free contract entry depending on jurisdiction. The bonus structure is intentionally smaller than FanDuel Sportsbook’s headline promotional offers, which have at points reached $1,000 in deposit matches and risk-free wager value.
The smaller bonus reflects the different unit economics of event contracts versus sports betting. Sportsbooks earn through bookmaker margin baked into the line — typically 4-5% on standard sides and totals. Event-contract exchanges earn through trading fees, usually 1-2% per side, which leaves less promotional headroom.
What existing FanDuel users should know
FanDuel Predicts runs as a separate app and account from FanDuel Sportsbook and FanDuel Fantasy. Existing users will need to create a new FanDuel Predicts account, complete a fresh KYC verification, and fund the account independently — wallet balances and promotional credits do not transfer across products.
The separation reflects regulatory realities: the entities sit under different legal frameworks, and commingling user funds across a state-regulated sportsbook and a federally-regulated event-contract exchange would create accounting and compliance complications. Flutter has not signaled any plans to unify the products at the wallet level.
What the launch signals
FanDuel Predicts is the second major sportsbook-brand entry into prediction markets, after DraftKings Predictions. The arrival of both operators in the same window signals that the established US sports-wagering brands view event contracts as a strategic adjacency worth real investment — not just a hedge against regulatory uncertainty in core sportsbook markets.
The category implications cut two ways. On one hand, FanDuel and DraftKings bring distribution, brand trust, and existing user funnels that pure-play prediction-market platforms cannot match. On the other hand, both sportsbook operators face structural conflicts: aggressively growing event contracts could cannibalize their higher-margin sportsbook products in the 21-plus demographic where both run.
What this means for Bellwether readers
FanDuel Predicts brings institutional-grade infrastructure and a recognizable consumer brand into prediction markets, materially expanding category awareness. Traders in the 18 sports-contract-eligible states now have a sportsbook-quality UX on regulated event-contract rails.