DraftKings, Flutter enter market-making on prediction exchanges
DraftKings is market-making on Railbird; Flutter began providing liquidity on a third-party prediction platform while building its own.
DraftKings and Flutter have begun acting as market makers on prediction exchanges, shifting from offering consumer-facing prediction products to supplying liquidity on trading venues.
DraftKings is operating market-making on Railbird, the prediction-market exchange it bought in October 2025. The company reported Q1 2026 revenue of $1.6 billion, a 17% increase year over year, and adjusted EBITDA of $167.85 million. On the earnings call, CEO Jason Robins told analysts the company expects to be one of the “top two or three market makers in the world” and aims to “establish a leadership position in Sports Predictions before year-end.”
Flutter began providing market-making services on a major third-party prediction platform in April while it builds an internal exchange. The company reported Q1 2026 revenue of $4.304 billion. U.S. adjusted EBITDA fell 26% year over year to $119 million, a decline Flutter attributed in part to a planned $300 million investment in FanDuel Predicts for fiscal 2026 and about $35 million in costs tied to its Arkansas launch.
Flutter disclosed leadership changes at FanDuel in early May. Amy Howe left the CEO role, with a separation agreement finalized May 5 that included a $4.4 million severance. President Christian Genetski assumed day-to-day leadership at FanDuel, and Dan Taylor was named President at Flutter.
Market-making on prediction platforms means the operator supplies liquidity and takes the opposite side of trades when there are not enough user counterparties. That role differs from a purely peer-to-peer exchange, where the platform matches buyers and sellers but does not fill trades itself.
The two firms have chosen different operational paths. DraftKings is using its acquired exchange to run market-making on its own venue. Flutter is initially providing liquidity on an existing third-party platform while developing an in-house product expected to launch in the coming months. The companies reflected those choices in their guidance: Flutter trimmed full-year 2026 revenue guidance to $18.305 billion, while DraftKings kept a fiscal-year revenue range of $6.5 billion to $6.9 billion.
Industry participants have noted parallels with market-making in crypto derivatives, where trading firms routinely supply liquidity and act as counterparties. Bringing sportsbook operators into liquidity-provision roles places them in a similar operational position.
Regulatory scrutiny is scheduled to continue. A Senate Commerce Subcommittee hearing on sports integrity set for May 20 will include testimony from the American Gaming Association and representatives of the Coalition for Prediction. Officials and lawmakers are expected to discuss whether platforms that operate prediction markets and also provide liquidity should be regulated in the same way as gambling operators.
On their earnings calls, the companies framed market-making and exchange development as central components of their prediction-market strategies. DraftKings has already activated market-making on Railbird; Flutter started providing liquidity on an external platform in April while progressing on its own launch.
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