DraftKings’ DKeX Self-Certifies Nine Football Contracts Ahead of NFL Season
The filings, which cover spreads, totals, player props and other football markets, come days after the exchange self-certified its own combo products.
DraftKings is preparing for football season with a major expansion of its prediction market offerings, as its in-house Railbird Exchange has self-certified nine categories of football event contracts days after filing its COMBOS product.
Railbird Exchange, which operates as DKeX, submitted the product certifications to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Aug. 10.
The filings cover markets resembling much of a mobile sportsbook’s football offerings. Those include game winners, spreads, totals, player and team statistics, game-level statistics, in-game achievements, player-versus-player performance, season awards and outright outcomes. The contracts are set to become certified Aug. 12 and can be listed for trading thereafter.
On the company’s Q2 earnings call last week, CEO Jason Robins said DraftKings expects its prediction market business to accelerate significantly during football season. He anticipates the NFL season bringing “millions and millions of customers” to the exchange, making this year’s season “by far our biggest.”
DraftKings’ prediction market business has grown rapidly, with annualized volume increasing from $2.3 billion in April to $11 billion in July. Robins said more than 600,000 customers have used the product this year and that adoption has “far surpassed our expectations.”
DKeX Builds Sportsbook-Style Football Menu
The Aug. 10 filings establish nine separate football contract categories.
FOOTBALLWIN covers whether a team wins a game or a specified period of a game, similar to a traditional moneyline market. FOOTBALLSPREAD covers whether a team wins by more or loses by less than a specified point differential, identical to point-spread betting.
FOOTBALLTOTALS covers whether a team, or both teams combined, scores above or below a specified number of points — the equivalent of over/under markets.
The filings also move into prop-style markets. FOOTBALLENTITYSTAT covers whether an individual player or team reaches a specified statistical mark, while FOOTBALLGAMESTAT does the same for game-wide statistics. FOOTBALLENTITYACHIEVEMENT refers to specific achievements by a player or team during a game.
The remaining categories are tied to head-to-head statistical comparisons between players, season-long awards and outright competition outcomes.
The contracts apply to both professional and college football. The filings specifically identify the NFL and college football, including the College Football Playoff, while leaving room for additional football competitions.
Combos (Parlays) Gaining Traction on DraftKings Predictions
The football certifications came three days after DKeX self-certified its COMBOS product. Under the Aug. 7 filing, a COMBOS contract combines the outcomes of at least two separately listed and certified DKeX contracts.
COMBOS, synonymous to parlays in sportsbook parlance, are become certified today, Aug. 11, one day before most newly filed football products.
DraftKings Predictions already offers combos using Crypto.com’s exchange infrastructure. Robins said more than half of Predictions customers have used combos and that the products are accounting for about 20% of consumer trading volume.
Bringing both the underlying football markets and combos to DKeX allows DraftKings to shift more sports volume to its own exchange. Robins told analysts that the company intends to take most of its major sports contracts in-house, and management believes the move will improve unit economics.
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