DraftKings Predictions launches in 38 states, sports in 17

Update, October 17, 2026: DraftKings Predictions has grown since this story ran. As of October 2026 it is available in 48 states, all except Maine and New Hampshire, with sports contracts in 18. Since June 24, 2026, it has run on DKeX, DraftKings' own CFTC-licensed exchange. Fees are $0.01 per contract at 1¢ to 19¢ and 97¢ to 99¢, and $0.02 at 20¢ to 96¢ (SI, October 16, 2026). Earlier versions of this story said state attorneys general had narrowed the sports map and that DraftKings was the first sportsbook brand to launch a prediction app. Both were wrong and are corrected below. Our DraftKings Predictions review has current details.

DraftKings Predictions, the prediction-market app from the fantasy and sportsbook operator, is live in 38 states, with sports contracts in 17 of them. The app launched on December 19, 2025. It is separate from DraftKings Sportsbook and DraftKings Fantasy, with its own account, wallet and identity checks (InGame).

The 38-state map

At launch the app was not available in Nevada, Arizona, Arkansas, Iowa, Illinois, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, Ohio, Tennessee or Washington. Sports contracts went live in Alabama, Alaska, California, Georgia, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and Utah.

The sports list is the set of states where DraftKings has no sportsbook, most of them without legal online sports betting. In October 2025, before launch, a person familiar with the plans told Decrypt the app would focus on states without legal sports betting. Decrypt also noted that some states where DraftKings runs a sportsbook had warned that prediction markets could put gambling licences at risk.

What you can trade

At launch, sports contracts covered game winners and point spreads for the NFL, NBA and College Football Playoff, and game winners for the NHL. Non-sports markets included hour-long contracts on commodities and indices such as gold and the S&P 500.

CME now, Railbird later

DraftKings bought Railbird Technologies, which holds a CFTC-designated exchange, in October 2025 (Covers). It did not launch on Railbird. The first contracts are CME Group's, with DraftKings acting as introducing broker. InGame reported a fee of 2¢ per contract at launch: 1¢ to DraftKings and 1¢ to CME. DraftKings said Railbird contracts "will broaden available markets" when they arrive.

Who launched first

DraftKings was not the first sportsbook brand into prediction markets. Fanatics Markets launched on December 3, 2025, on Crypto.com's exchange (Fanatics). FanDuel Predicts followed DraftKings on December 22, 2025, also on CME Group, and opened non-sports markets in all 50 states on January 15, 2026 (Action Network). See our FanDuel Predicts review.

18 and over

DraftKings Sportsbook requires customers to be 21 in most of its states. DraftKings Predictions accepts users from 18, the norm for CFTC-regulated markets.

Open questions at launch

The state map. Whether DraftKings would add states or sports contracts as its own exchange came online.
Cannibalisation. Whether the app would bring in new customers or draw spend away from the sportsbook. DraftKings did not say.
Breadth. Whether DraftKings would go beyond sports and simple finance markets into politics and economics, where Kalshi is strongest. See our Kalshi review.

By October 2026 the first question had an answer: 48 states, sports in 18 and a DraftKings-run exchange.