DraftKings co-founder and president of operations Paul Liberman has said the operator would welcome the US federal government being more proactive on the regulation of prediction markets.
Speaking during the Future of Decision Intelligence Conference hosted by the Milken Institute on Monday, 4 May, Liberman confirmed that DraftKings would like to offer sports event contracts in any state which allows it.
DraftKings Predictions went live in December using CME Group as a partner. The product offers sports event contracts in states without legalised online sports betting, such as California and Texas.
Other event contracts are live across the US, although Maine and New Hampshire residents can’t access DraftKings Predictions. The operator acquired Railbird last year to ramp up its product offering.
Prediction markets sit under the watch of the financial derivatives regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CTFC). State-level regulators have argued sports event contracts are akin to sports betting and impede on the state-specific regulations.
Liberman said: “When you have federally or state-regulated products, you’re ultimately providing a better and safer consumer experience than exists otherwise. We don’t know exactly what’s going to happen.
“If we can participate in the different states, we will participate. We would love to offer the products wherever we can pass legislation. We are pro the federal government taking a more active stance and saying sports is legal, accepted and we can do it as a prediction market.
In its latest prediction markets monitor, analyst firm Eilers & Krejick noted that 69% of US sport prediction markets volume in Q1 2026 originated from states where online sports betting is banned, with California and Texas alone accounting for 43% of this activity.
Hardline stance
Several states have taken a hardline stance against prediction market platforms offering sports event contracts over the last few months.
Last month, the Ohio Casino Control Commission issued Kalshi with a $5m fine for offering an unlicensed sports betting product in the state.
Arizona took similar action, with Attorney General Kris Mayes hitting Kalshi with an illegal gambling charge for the same practice.
More than 20 federal suits have been filed against prediction market platforms by state regulators for offering products deemed too similar to gambling.
A bill designed to ban prediction market bets on elections, sports, and military and government actions was introduced to both the Senate and House of Representatives in March.
Many stakeholders expect the issue of prediction markets’ legality to end up in the US Supreme Court before the end of the decade.
Expect a micro wave
When asked about which new innovations could be introduced to prediction markets, Liberman suggested that micro markets could emerge as a popular product.
He added: “Prediction markets have been amazingly quick at innovating and adding categories really quickly. In sports we’re going to see faster, more dynamic micro-market appear which don’t exist yet.
“I think you’ll start seeing more micro contracts. We’ve seen that already with RFQs and parlays and I think you’ll continue to see innovation there in terms of how dynamic the prediction markets are going to be able to be on sports.”
Liberman also elaborated on the similarities in pricing between sportsbooks and prediction market platforms.
He continued: “The reality is that if you look at prediction markets and sportsbooks, if we were completely different on price, there would be an arbitrage opportunity which people would take advantage of, so the pricing is very similar between prediction markets and sportsbooks.
“At the end of the day, our goal as a sportsbook is to engage our customers to make a great experience. There’s a lot of benefits that us being both a market maker or bookmaker as well as the exchange on sportsbooks.
“It allows us to reinvest in offer promotions, engage customers, and that is something that is really challenging in prediction markets. That being said, there’s a place where prediction markets have their value as well. Sportsbooks have their value as well.
“I think both are really positive, and we engage on both sides because they’re both great, both different, and they have their different values.”
Liberman was joined on the panel by Robinhood Markets chief investment officer Stephanie Guild and Kalshi board member Brian Quintenz.
Quintenz had also been the original pick for the CFTC chair under President Trump, although Michael Selig was eventually selected to the post.
Touching on the regulatory outlook, Quintenz said: “I think about these models [sportsbooks and prediction markets] being able to coexist. I think laws are very hard to change. I think it takes a lot of energy and attention, and usually a significant amount of outrage, to catalyse enough people to focus on changing the law.
“What we do have control over is telling our story, telling the policy, telling the regulation and telling why this is a good model and this is a federal marketplace and the appropriate regulator for a marketplace is a federal market regulator.
The post DraftKings co-founder: Federal government should rule on legality of sports event contracts first appeared on EGR Intel.
President of operations Paul Liberman says the operator would support the government “taking a more active stance”, while suggesting that micro-betting prediction markets could be the next innovation
The post DraftKings co-founder: Federal government should rule on legality of sports event contracts first appeared on EGR Intel.