Prediction Market roundup: Robins pleased as DraftKings ascends to bronze in rankings
Nearly 30 years ago, David Letterman poked fun of himself after his late night show slipped in the ratings.
As Letterman fell behind rival Jay Leno and ABC’s Nightline, he took the slight in stride. Rather than sulk, Letterman displayed a massive billboard next to Leno’s that read: “No. 3 In Late Night,” along with a picture of his grinning mug.
On Thursday at Next Predicts in New York, Jason Robins proudly proclaimed that DraftKings has advanced to a podium position in the intense race for notional volume. Unlike Letterman, DraftKings appears to be on an upward trajectory given that the multi-billion operator just launched a market making exchange several months ago.
From a product standpoint, Robins believes DraftKings is well-positioned given the company’s robust Research & Development team. DraftKings also has an advantage over nascent prediction-market operators in cross-selling its predictions segment with other divisions such as online sports betting, iCasino and lottery.
For the week ended 18 October, DraftKings’ exchange (DKeX) surpassed $3 billion in notional volume, ranking third among operators, according to Aldrin Research. While DraftKings ranked just behind Polymarket’s offshore platform, the exchange slightly topped Novig, the fourth-place operator.
Last Sunday, for Week 6 of the NFL season, the DraftKings exchange recorded notional volume of $316 million, Aldrin found, the most in company history.
“We only launched a few months ago and we’re already the clear No. 3,” Robins said during a fireside chat with CNBC’s Contessa Brewer.
Matt Rybaltowski
Matt is primarily responsible for long-form feature coverage on complex sports betting scandals. He also provides coverage on finance, M&A and other technological developments.