00:00DraftKings Sam makes an announcement that if all these other companies are going to be operating in states that are not legal to bet on sports, we're going to jump on in and do the same thing.
00:11I would imagine FanDuel probably will follow suit as long as these prediction markets, Sam, which feel like gambling and they're not gambling, are, I don't even want to say legal, but unregulated, then I think DraftKings has no choice to jump into the field, don't they?
00:25Yeah, that's definitely the vibe we're getting across the industry right now where you have DraftKings just after FanDuel made a similar move announcing that they're acquiring RailBird Exchange yesterday, which is a CFTC licensed exchange, which will allow DraftKings to launch a new product that's going to call DraftKings Predictions, which, you know, as you guessed, it is a prediction market in states where there is no legal sports betting.
00:51Now, importantly, the release DraftKings put out yesterday did not mention that it would be doing sports prediction markets, you know, there's other markets, of course, you can bet on things like what will President Trump tweet about today, you can even bet on a prediction market whether or not DraftKings will launch a prediction market this year.
01:08DraftKings not saying they're getting into sports yet, although a lot of analysts that I've talked to who watch this for financial reasons have said no, they're definitely going to launch a sports prediction market before the end of the year and, you know, check the calendar, we only have about a month left.
01:23So there could be even more big news in this space, kind of, you know, any day, we don't really know when it's going to come.
01:29But this is really important because, you know, companies like Kalshi and Polymarket have been offering these sports prediction markets, which, as you say, some people say it is sports betting.
01:39Some people say it's not sports betting. The CFTC has not gotten involved.
01:43You have a number of states suing. I think six have filed lawsuits to say it is sports betting.
01:47But meanwhile, these companies have taken, you know, just a tremendous amount of volume, Kalshi's now worth about $5 billion, similar number for Polymarket.
01:56And it's all on the back of, you know, the sports betting that's being offered in states like California and states like Texas, where DraftKings and FanDuel haven't been able to get in.
02:06So DraftKings announcing yesterday that it's acquiring this exchange, it's going to the prediction market, kind of gives it some leverage to switch it on whenever maybe it does want to do it.
02:16Now, some states have warned as well that if DraftKings or FanDuel or anybody else does these sports prediction markets, those states are going to view that as unlicensed sports betting.
02:24And that could jeopardize their licenses in places like Arizona, places like Ohio, Nevada.
02:29And I'm told a growing number of states are going to issue that same guidance as well.
02:33So it's sort of a leverage thing right now where DraftKings, you know, their stock has been taking a hit as Kalshi and Polymarket have been doing sports betting in states that DraftKings can't, while DraftKings is now preparing to do it,
02:44but obviously doesn't want to piss off states as well.
02:47The CFTC, meanwhile, has really not weighed in at all.
02:50So maybe that will come down the road, too.
02:52But yeah, this could all really just rapidly change in about a month because, you know, before the new year, there's not much time.
02:59So FanDuel, DraftKings, both kind of making similar plays here.
Be the first to comment