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DraftKings and FanDuel are heading into football season prepared to spend more to defend and grow their positions, while prediction markets remain a fast-moving part of the competitive picture.
In Sports Business Journal’s latest betting newsletter, DraftKings CEO Jason Robins said the company is “on offense” and that its “core business is firing.” Flutter CEO Peter Jackson struck a similar tone for FanDuel, saying the company expects to invest more in the second half to regain and retain customers as competition intensifies.
DraftKings points to customer growth and exchange plans
Robins said DraftKings added 600,000 customers in the second quarter and spent 10% more on acquisition than expected, while still cutting per-head costs by 25%.
He also pointed to momentum from World Cup betting, higher baseball betting and a unified app that includes prediction-market functionality in non-legalized states. According to Robins, more than half of DraftKings prediction users have bet combos or parlays, which account for about 20% of volume. He said users can now bet on roughly 30 markets per game in NBA, MLB and WNBA contests.
A key issue is how DraftKings rolls more activity onto its own exchange. Robins said the company will phase in DK Exchange and move college football and NFL volume over as quickly as it reasonably can, but only if liquidity is strong enough to protect the customer experience. He also said DraftKings found only about 1% crossover between sportsbook and prediction users, suggesting minimal cannibalization.
FanDuel says predictions matter, but adoption has lagged
Jackson said FanDuel still sees the impact from prediction markets in the “low single digits,” and remains bullish on the category even though FanDuel Predicts adoption has fallen short of expectations.
Flutter plans to combine predictions with sportsbook and casino features in a single app. CFO Rob Coldrake said that “One App” should be the catalyst for higher prediction-market volume. FanDuel also shifted its sports prediction plans from a CME Group joint venture to Crypto.com, with executives citing a broader contract menu and deeper liquidity.
Jackson said Flutter has backed away from launching or acquiring its own exchange, a notable contrast with DraftKings’ more vertically integrated approach.
CFTC scrutiny and market expansion remain key watch points
The broader prediction-market fight is still evolving. The CFTC said it will consider rules that could restrict exchange owners from acting as market makers in some cases. That matters because FanDuel has said it expects to generate about $50 million in revenue as a market maker this year.
Elsewhere, Polymarket announced an MLB team sponsorship with the Yankees and reached an ATP Tour deal that gives it exclusive low-latency streams for tour matches, which it plans to show alongside pricing in its app.
The newsletter also cited a rebound in June sports betting activity across legalized states, with handle up 23% year over year to $10.79 billion. New York alone reported $2.26 billion in June handle, up 36%.
For bettors, the main takeaway is that the biggest operators are entering football season ready to spend more, while the rules and structure around prediction markets are still unsettled. As that develops, product changes and regulatory decisions could shape how major platforms operate in the months ahead.
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Source: As reported by Bill King.
