By PredictQ Team // Updated: July 2026
DraftKings Predictions is a sportsbook company’s take on a prediction market: binary Yes/No event contracts on sports, financial, and macroeconomic outcomes, regulated federally by the CFTC, wrapped in an interface built for people who think in moneylines. It launched December 19, 2025, and as of June 2026 it runs on DKeX, DraftKings’ own CFTC-licensed exchange, with roughly $3.4 billion in annualized consumer volume and $11.3 billion in annualized total trading volume as of late June.
Every prediction market platform makes a choice about who it’s for. Kalshi built an order book for traders. Polymarket built crypto-native political markets. DraftKings built a betslip. Understanding that choice explains everything about how this platform works, so let’s go through it end to end.
Event Contracts, the Two-Minute Version
Every market is a Yes/No question with a price between $0.01 and $0.99. The price is the market’s implied probability: a contract at $0.60 means the market collectively puts the outcome at 60%. If you’re right, each contract settles at $1.00. If you’re wrong, it settles at $0.00. Between now and settlement, the price moves as new information arrives, and you can sell at any time.
That last sentence is the whole reason prediction markets beat sportsbooks for anything longer than a game. A sportsbook futures ticket locks you in until the book decides what cashout to offer you. A contract has a live market price, and the exit is yours whenever you want it.
DraftKings runs these exact mechanics but displays them differently. A $0.60 contract shows as -150 in American odds by default, with the contract price secondary. Sports bettors feel at home immediately. Traders coming from Kalshi will want to keep an eye on the underlying prices.
The Machinery Underneath
Three entities make the product run. GUS III LLC d/b/a DraftKings Predictions, a CFTC-registered Introducing Broker, operates the consumer app. DKeX, the proprietary exchange DraftKings built from its October 2025 Railbird acquisition, lists and executes every contract; it went live June 26, 2026, replacing the earlier routing through CME Group and Crypto.com Derivatives North America. And DraftKings Inc. (NASDAQ: DKNG) owns the whole stack.
For a user, the practical meaning of DKeX is consolidation. Sports, props, economics, and Combos all trade in one place on DraftKings-controlled infrastructure, and the fee schedule is one clean table instead of broker-plus-exchange layers.
Placing a Trade
The flow, whichever door you enter through (standalone Predictions app, the unified DraftKings: Sports & Casino app, or desktop web):
- Browse the category tabs: Featured, NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, college sports, soccer, MMA, Economy, Stocks, Crypto, Commodities.
- Open a market. You’ll see current pricing, resolution timing, and contract details.
- Tap the side you want at the displayed odds.
- Enter a dollar stake. The app converts it into a contract count and shows your payout if you win, fees included.
- Confirm on the betslip-style summary.
Your stake comes from the same cash balance that funds Sportsbook, DFS, and the rest of the DraftKings suite. And note the platform’s biggest trading limitation: market orders only. There are no limit orders, no resting bids, no order book to read. You transact at the displayed price or you pass.
Managing Positions
The Trades section shows open positions marked to the current market, settled positions with realized P&L, and any Predictions Dollars. From there you have three moves: hold to settlement ($1 per winning contract, $0 per loser), sell early at the market price to lock a gain or cut a loss, or add to the position. Early exits depend on liquidity, and DraftKings’ terms warn that canceling or modifying a transaction may not be possible in fast markets. In the big sports markets, liquidity has been fine. In thinner markets, expect wider effective spreads.
What You Can Trade
Sports is the headline act, live in 18 states: NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, college football and basketball, soccer, MMA, golf, boxing, tennis, with moneylines, spreads, totals, player props, futures, and Combos. Financial and economics markets (stock indexes, commodities, crypto prices, Fed decisions, CPI, jobs data) reach most of the country. Nothing at all is offered in Maine or New Hampshire.
No political markets. Culture and entertainment markets remain announced but unshipped as of July 2026. The catalog is deliberately curated; if you want five hundred flavors of niche contract, that’s Kalshi’s product, and DraftKings knows it.
Combos
Launched mid-May 2026, Combos let you stack up to 6 event contracts into one trade where every leg must win. It’s a parlay with federal paperwork, timed to the World Cup, and adoption has been striking: DraftKings says over 30% of Predictions customers have used it. The appeal is obvious and so is the math. Multiplying probabilities multiplies the platform’s edge on each leg. Small stakes, entertainment budget.
The Sports-State Rule
DraftKings Predictions offers sports contracts only where DraftKings Sportsbook does not operate. That’s why the sports list is 18 states and why California, Texas, Florida, and Georgia (the four biggest states without online sportsbooks) are all on it. In sportsbook states like New Jersey or Pennsylvania, Predictions is a non-sports product covering economics and financial markets. The app geolocates you and shows your actual menu.
Fees
Two tiers: $0.01 per contract at prices $0.01–$0.19 and $0.97–$0.99, $0.02 per contract at $0.20–$0.96. Nothing at settlement, nothing on deposits or withdrawals. A 100-contract position at $0.50 costs $2.00 to open and $0 to settle. Full comparisons live in our DraftKings Predictions fees article; the short version is that this is slightly pricier than Kalshi, a bit more than Polymarket sports, and enormously cheaper than -110 sportsbook vig.
Money In, Money Out
Debit card, ACH, PayPal, Venmo, Apple Pay, and PayNearMe cash deposits. No credit cards anywhere at DraftKings since 2025. Withdrawals are free and usually land within hours (debit, PayPal, Venmo) or 1–3 business days (ACH). Markets trade essentially around the clock, with individual market hours depending on the underlying event.
A First Trade, End to End
Say you’re in California. You sign up, clear KYC in a few minutes, and deposit $50 via PayPal.
You find an NBA playoff market with the home team at -150, which is a $0.60 contract price. You stake $30: 50 contracts at $0.60, plus 50 × $0.02 = $1.00 in commission. Because you deposited $5+ and traded $5+, the welcome offer triggers and $25 in Predictions Dollars lands instantly.
The home team wins. Your 50 contracts settle at $1.00 each: $50 credited, no settlement fee, an $19 profit on the trade after commission. You’ve still got $19 of your original deposit in cash plus the $25 in Predictions Dollars for the next trade. Or the team loses, the contracts settle at zero, and you’re out $31 all-in. Either way you knew the exact worst case before you clicked, which is more than a parlay slip ever told you.
Who This Platform Is Actually For
DraftKings Predictions makes three bets on its own design. That moneyline display and a betslip beat an order book for mainstream users. That distribution through the DraftKings app ecosystem beats standalone acquisition. And that sports fans in California, Texas, Florida, and Georgia want a regulated way to trade games badly enough to learn one new concept.
All three look right so far. But the same choices mean traders who want limit orders, order book depth, granular markets, or political contracts should go to Kalshi or Polymarket and skip the moneyline translation layer entirely.
Bottom Line
DraftKings Predictions is standard CFTC event-contract mechanics under the most familiar interface in American betting, now running on DraftKings’ own exchange. If you can read a moneyline, you already know how to use it, and if you’re in one of the 18 sports states, it’s the shortest path from sports fan to prediction market trader that currently exists.
The mechanics take five minutes to learn. Being good at this takes a lot longer. Start small, watch how prices move, and treat the exit button as the feature it is. Sign up HERE.
Disclosures: PredictQ may receive compensation when readers sign up for platforms through links on this page. Information accurate as of July 2026. DraftKings Predictions is operated by GUS III LLC, a CFTC-registered Introducing Broker; contracts trade on DKeX, DraftKings’ CFTC-licensed exchange. Trading event contracts involves significant risk and is not appropriate for all participants. This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or investment advice. Must be 18 or older (19 or 21 in some states). If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER.