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Company

DraftKings

DraftKings is a US-based online sportsbook and daily fantasy sports company offering sports betting, casino games, and related wagering products.

Known aliases

  • DKNG
  • DraftKings Inc.

Current stories

investConfirmed2 publishers

Kalshi's $2 million gift cost the largest US problem-gambling nonprofit its director and four state partners

Heather Maurer resigned as head of the National Council on Problem Gambling in September after backlash over its $2 million deal with Kalshi. So far the council has paid for the deal, losing four state partners by Fortune's count, over a sum that is tiny next to Kalshi's valuation.

Reality

Evidence55
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+10
Incentives65
Confidence60
investConfirmed11 publishers

NFL backs New Jersey's Supreme Court bid to regulate Kalshi's sports contracts as gambling

The NFL asked the Supreme Court to back New Jersey against Kalshi, saying NFL games drew $1.8 billion of the $3.3 billion traded on opening Sunday. A ruling for the states would put the contracts that made up most of that day's trading under state gambling law.

Perspective Coverage

11 publishers
Builder
Builder 9%
Operator
Operator 44%
Investor
Investor 47%

Reality

Evidence74
Adoption72
Hype gap+10
Incentives74
Confidence70
investConfirmed3 publishers

More than half of Gen Z investors moved investing money into sports bets that lose every month

Fifty-two percent of Gen Z investors moved money meant for investing into sports betting in the past year, a Betterment survey of 1,000 investors found. Bank of America's payment data puts what every generation recovers from sportsbooks each month below 75 cents on the dollar, so the diverted cash is a running cost.

Perspective Coverage

3 publishers
Builder
Builder 7%
Operator
Operator 22%
Investor
Investor 71%

Reality

Evidence62
Adoption50
Hype gap+30
Incentives55
Confidence60
securityOne report1 publisher

DraftKings model scored gamblers on how much they would lose after promotions, the Times reports

DraftKings scored customers on how much they were likely to lose after a promotion, the New York Times reported after interviewing over 40 former staff. A ProPublica reporter betting his own money saw the offers grow as his losses did.

Publishers:malwarebytes.com

Reality

Evidence50
Adoption40
Hype gap+20
Incentives45
Confidence50
investConfirmed3 publishers

CME and Kalshi trade insults as prediction-market rules become a federal-state fight

Terry Duffy mocked Kalshi's hot dog contract; Luana Lopes Lara asked about CME's manipulation record. The live question is whether event contracts get exchange-grade oversight, and who writes it.

Perspective Coverage

3 publishers
Builder
Builder 17%
Operator
Operator 48%
Investor
Investor 35%

Reality

Evidence68
Adoption55
Hype gap+10
Incentives72
Confidence66
investConfirmed4 publishers

Ninth Circuit hands Nevada the power to enforce gaming law against Kalshi's sports markets

A unanimous panel decided that Kalshi's contracts on who wins a game are likely bets rather than swaps, which turns one federal registration back into a fifty-state licensing problem for the exchange.

Perspective Coverage

4 publishers
Builder
Builder 13%
Operator
Operator 56%
Investor
Investor 31%

Reality

Evidence78
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+20
Incentives50
Confidence74
investOne report1 publisher

Kalshi and Polymarket run DraftKings' old loophole playbook against the sportsbooks

Fullstory says 35% of bettors it polled use sportsbooks less because of prediction markets, CFTC-regulated venues that pay no state betting tax. DraftKings and FanDuel grew on a similar carve-out until states rewrote gambling law after 2015, and Kalshi's Illinois suit now contests that route.

Publishers:fortune.com

Reality

Evidence42
Adoption35
Hype gap+35
Incentives50
Confidence45
productOne report1 publisher

Former DraftKings staff describe a model that ranked bettors by how well promotions worked on them

The New York Times, citing more than 40 former employees, says a 2023 elasticity model scored customers on how strongly they responded to promotions, and that three internal crisis-prediction efforts stalled.

Publishers:gizmodo.com

Reality

Evidence42
Adoption55
Hype gap+28
Incentives68
Confidence45
investOne report1 publisher

Ways and Means votes 38-5 to reverse the 90% gambling-loss cap retroactive to 2026

A House committee has voted to let gamblers deduct all of their losses again, retroactive to tax years beginning after December 31, 2025, so the cap written into July's tax law would never touch a filed return.

Reality

Evidence40
Adoption25
Hype gap+18
Incentives75
Confidence45
investOne report1 publisher

DraftKings ranked casino players by how much they would lose after a free bet

A New York Times investigation says the company's elasticity score sorted customers by predicted post-promotion losses and aimed hundreds of millions of promotional dollars at the top of that list. A harm-detection model on the same data pipeline was shelved.

Publishers:techtimes.com

Reality

Evidence66
Adoption80
Hype gap+22
Incentives72
Confidence58
investOne report1 publisher

Robinhood's record 13.6 billion event contracts earned it about a penny each

Event contracts brought in $156m last quarter on 13.6 billion tickets, which is the arithmetic behind Robinhood buying equity in a contract supplier as well as listing its markets. OG.com's contracts go live on September 8.

Reality

Evidence38
Adoption60
Hype gap+30
Incentives72
Confidence48
investOne report1 publisher

The goat herder's hedge: $50,000 on Kalshi against a California wage deadline

Tim Arrowsmith bought $500,000 of protection on a state rule fix that no insurer would quote. What the price implies, and what the trigger date does not cover, matter more than the anecdote.

Publishers:fortune.com

Reality

Evidence24
Adoption16
Hype gap+42
Incentives82
Confidence41
investOne report1 publisher

DraftKings hands a departing cofounder up to $30M, and hands short sellers a filing to read

DraftKings stock is down 44%, and Fortune reports the board cleared up to $30 million of marketing work for a cofounder's new firm. The paper trail is the problem.

Publishers:fortune.com

Reality

Evidence66
Adoption22
Hype gap+20
Incentives78
Confidence60
investOne report1 publisher

Sportsbooks are not competing with the movie budget. They are competing with the brokerage account

Two academic papers put figures on where wager money comes from: net household investment down nearly 14% after legalisation, and credit stress showing up in the lending data.

Publishers:fortune.com

Reality

Evidence58
Adoption82
Hype gap+14
Incentives66
Confidence54