DraftKings sees prediction markets as a way to add new customers and new trading categories, not just as another version of sports betting. Jeanine Hightower-Sellitto, senior vice president and general manager of DraftKings Predictions, made that point during an SBC Summit North America panel.
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Hightower-Sellitto said the key difference starts with market structure. A sportsbook works through one main price setter. Prediction markets work more like an exchange, where users trade contracts and prices shift through market activity.
“When I think about sportsbook, it is a single-dealer market. It’s a marketplace that exists and there’s one market maker that exists in that marketplace,” Hightower-Sellitto said. “Prediction markets operate differently. The economics of it are different.”
That difference lets DraftKings place both products inside one customer journey without treating one as a replacement for the other. Sports betting still serves standard wagering demand. Prediction markets can fill gaps with non-sports categories and off-peak trading windows.
“It allows us to reach into a new audience with a product that can be available to them, and it allows us to serve our current sportsbook audience with a new whole set of content categories that currently aren’t available for a sportsbook customer,” Hightower-Sellitto said. “And so it’s really a different kind of model, it’s a different trajectory, but very complementary at its core.”
The timing also helps. Prediction markets have grown fast in the U.S. through court wins, rising trading volume, and CFTC attention. On June 10, the CFTC proposed a federal framework for sports event contracts. Reports said the proposal would allow some sports contracts while leaving out areas such as player injuries, officiating decisions, and some in-game actions. The proposal now faces public comment and more legal debate, especially from states and tribes that view sports contracts as gambling.
DraftKings has already pushed deeper into the category. Its DraftKings Predictions product started in late 2025, and the company has linked it to a “super app” plan that brings sportsbook wagering and prediction trading closer together. The company also expanded its prediction market catalogue through Crypto.com in early 2026, including player-specific NFL and NBA event contracts.
Sportrade founder and CEO Alex Kane framed the category as part of a wider blend between gaming, trading, and finance.
“The prediction market sits in the middle of that Venn diagram,” Kane said.
Kane also pointed to higher valuations for Kalshi and Polymarket as proof that investors now see event contracts as more than a niche product. His own company shifted from a state licensed sportsbook model to a federally regulated prediction market approach.
“You should be able to trade anything at close to zero spreads,” Kane said.
For DraftKings, the business case looks simple enough: sportsbooks still carry the core sports betting product, while prediction markets can add more categories, more trading hours, and access in places where online sports betting remains unavailable. Hightower-Sellitto said prediction markets now sit among DraftKings strategic priorities, backed by its sports knowledge, customer base, and technology.