DraftKings and Flutter Go Full Market-Maker: Predictions Take Over

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DraftKings and Flutter Entertainment are doing the unthinkable: they’re turning prediction markets into infrastructure. It’s like moving from a coffee shop to the entire bean supply chain. And yes, the numbers say the sportsbook crowd is not just playing around anymore.

  • Key Takeaways:

  • DraftKings CEO Jason Robins eyes “top two or three” global market-maker spot via the Railbird exchange.
  • Flutter began market-making for a major third-party prediction platform in April; their own platform launches are supposedly on the way.
  • Flutter trimmed FY 2026 guidance to about $18.305B in revenue; DraftKings sticks to its $6.5-$6.9B range.

Sportsbooks Move From Prediction-Market Products to Infrastructure

DraftKings reported Q1 2026 revenue of $1.6 billion on May 7, up 17 percent year-over-year, with an adjusted EBITDA of $167.85 million. CEO Jason Robins identified market-making capabilities and a proprietary exchange as core pillars of the company’s prediction-markets strategy, saying they intend to “establish a leadership position in Sports Predictions before year-end.” It’s not that complicated, folks: if you can make the market, you make the money, right? Or something like that.

On the earnings call the following day, Robins told analysts he saw no reason DraftKings should not become one of the “top two or three market makers in the world,” and characterized early work in this field as one of the company’s fastest paths to profitability. The market-making operates on Railbird, the prediction-markets exchange DraftKings acquired in October 2025.

Flutter Entertainment, Fanduel’s parent, reported Q1 2026 revenue of $4.304 billion on May 6. US Adjusted EBITDA fell 26 percent year-over-year to $119 million, reflecting Flutter’s $300 million full-year 2026 investment in Fanduel Predicts and $35 million in Arkansas state-launch costs. It’s the classic “we’re investing now so we can tell you later how profitable we are” maneuver.

This makes Flutter’s approach structurally different from DraftKings’. CEO Peter Jackson explained on the earnings call that the company “began market-making services on a major third-party prediction platform in April.” Flutter is, essentially, providing liquidity on someone else’s exchange first while building its own platform in parallel, with the initial in-house phase expected to launch in the coming months. It’s like borrowing sugar from the neighbor before you even bake the cake.

The same day as the earnings release, Flutter disclosed that Amy Howe had left her role as Fanduel CEO, with a separation agreement finalized May 5 and a severance package totaling $4.4 million. President Christian Genetski has taken over leadership of Fanduel, while Dan Taylor, formerly CEO of International, was appointed to the newly created role of President at Flutter. The corporate shuffle continues, and somehow we’re all still watching this like it’s a finale to a long-running soap opera.

Prediction markets have positioned themselves to regulators and the public as peer-to-peer venues with no operator on the other side of the trade, aiming to shield platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket from being classified as gambling. As sportsbook operators move onto the liquidity-provision side, that argument grows increasingly delicate. You want to call it peer-to-peer? Fine. But who’s paying the piper when the market goes sideways?

The capability also represents a crypto-derivatives parallel: firms like Susquehanna International Group and Jump Trading already operate as market-makers across crypto derivatives venues, with the prediction-markets expansion pulling sportsbook operators into territory that’s, let’s say, path-dependent and potentially explosive.

The May 20 Senate Commerce Subcommittee hearing on sports integrity will be the next major regulatory checkpoint. American Gaming Association CEO Bill Miller is set to appear alongside Patrick McHenry of the Coalition for Prediction, and let me tell you, drawing lines between operator and platform is getting messier by the minute. It’s like trying to untangle a pair of earphones that somehow multiplied in your pocket.

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2026-05-12 08:37