FORT LAUDERDALE — Fanatics Betting & Gaming currently has no interest in launching a prediction market, Chief Business Officer Ari Borod said Wednesday at the SBC Summit Americas 2025.
“What are event contracts?” Borod quipped when asked whether Fanatics would add new verticals to its sports betting and online casino offerings.
Competitors DraftKings and FanDuel, the national market-share sports betting leaders, are preparing for the eventuality. DraftKings registered “DraftKings Predict” with the National Futures Association (NFA), though it subsequently withdrew the application, while FanDuel’s parent company, Flutter, recently formed an exploration group from employees working for its popular Betfair Exchange.
Prediction market Kalshi has recently amassed a series of legal wins, securing injunctions in Nevada and New Jersey, and asserted that it’s a federally regulated product under the Commodity Future Trading Commission (CFTC). The CFTC has yet to officially issue a verdict on whether Kalshi and other prediction markets like Sporttrade and Crypto.com can proceed or need to acquire state-level licenses as sports betting operations.
Fanatics, which is fourth in national market share behind FanDuel, DraftKings, and BetMGM, will let the situation sort itself out, Borod said.
“I’d be lying if I said we haven’t heard of what’s happening with event contracts. As any business focused on building the best business, the best service … we obviously are paying attention to what’s happening in that space,” Borod said in the keynote address on the first day of the two-day program. “At the same time, the caveat would be, we’re super-focused on our sportsbook. We have plenty to do.”
The primary focus, he added, is closing the gap between Fanatics and the top three in market share.
State law, federal law … lots to sort out
Sporttade CEO Alex Kane recently petitioned the CFTC to follow Kalshi’s lead in offering national sports event contracts, even as it has five state licenses to offer traditional sports betting. Borod suggested Fanatics isn’t willing to risk his company’s relationships even though recent litigation suggests an outcome.
“We also operate in a state-by-state regulated structure. We have licenses with states, so we need to be very respectful of what’s happening with that structure,” he said. “I think the fact that there is federal regulation that covers it is certainly a good indication, but we need to be very conscious of how that interplays with the state responsibilities we have.”
And continue to let other gambling companies work it out.
“There’s federal preemption, there’s states’ rights on regulating gambling, so we continue to monitor it,” he concluded. “I think the best thing I can say is no one has a crystal ball that can predict what’s happening. No pun intended.”
Fanatics Sportsbook moved to third overall with more than a 10% market share in Illinois in March.
Kalshi wins spurring DraftKings, FanDuel
JPM Securities recently said in an investor call that DraftKings is “rooting for” the CFTC to allow federal regulation of prediction markets, citing its speed to market in other “cross-sell vehicles like DK Horse and fantasy sports.”
DraftKings CEO Jason Robins suggested in an investor call that the spread of prediction markets is inevitable, even though the company withdrew an application with the NFA in March that would have let it sell derivatives.
Flutter already runs the world’s largest prediction market, Betfair Exchange, and CEO Peter Jackson confirmed during the Q1 earnings call last week that it is “closely monitoring” the situation in the U.S., too.
Jackson added that sports events contracts could lay the groundwork in the few states that have not legalized sports betting.
“Clearly, in states that haven’t regulated, there’s a sort of prime-the-pump type of opportunity that is not that dissimilar to some of the DFS stuff, albeit it’s worth remembering that DFS is a really good precursor to the parlay product, whereas the prediction markets are quite limited,” Jackson said during the call. “So, look, we’re interested in the potential opportunity.”
