DraftKings chief executive Jason Robins says the company’s in-house exchange, DKeX, has become the third-largest prediction market operator in the US just a few months after launch. “We only launched the DraftKings exchange a few months ago, and we’re already the clear No. 3,” Robins said at New York’s NEXTPredict Summit on Thursday, in a Q&A hosted by CNBC’s Contessa Brewer, Yogonet reported.
DKeX went live in late June 2026. According to Aldrin Research figures cited in the report, the exchange was third by notional trading volume for the week to October 18, handling $1.04 billion in trades for a 3.57% share of the market. That was up from a 2.33% share in the week ending September 26. Kalshi remains well ahead in first place, with Polymarket a distant second. Notional volume measures potential contract payouts rather than cash committed, a distinction covered in this look at how prediction-market volume is counted.
A smaller footprint by design
Robins stressed that DraftKings reached that position with fewer markets than its rivals. “We’ve done that with a much more limited state footprint,” he said.
DraftKings Predictions is available in 38 states, but the full range of event contracts is offered in only 18 of them, including California, Florida and Texas. Where DraftKings operates a licensed sportsbook, including Colorado, New York and Pennsylvania, the product is limited to financial event contracts. Robins said the company avoids offering sports contracts in places where it also takes traditional sports wagers. In Nevada, it offers only free-to-play sports contests.
He acknowledged that the exchange would be more prominent if sports contracts were available in New York, but said that route carried too much regulatory risk. “The alternative was we would have had our licenses under threat,” Robins said.
Uncertainty weighs on the stock
The legal status of sports event contracts is still being fought in the courts, with the issue moving toward the US Supreme Court. Robins argued that DraftKings is positioned to benefit whatever the outcome, and that expansion beyond sports, for example into financial contracts, could support the business even if sports contracts are curtailed.
Investors have been less patient. The company’s stock is down more than 40% so far this year, and Robins linked that caution to the unsettled rules around federally regulated exchanges. “Private markets love uncertainty,” he said. “Public markets are the opposite. They do not like uncertainty.”
Responsible gambling questions
Robins also addressed recent criticism of how DraftKings uses artificial intelligence and handles responsible gambling. He said the company does not target problem gamblers and that customers identified as at risk are passed to a dedicated team. “It’s just completely not how we’re built,” he said. The comments come as regulators in several states examine the company’s marketing, including in Louisiana, where DraftKings is operating under a conditional license extension tied to an AI review.
He said little about the Seminole Tribe’s lawsuit against DraftKings in Florida, beyond noting that he found it interesting the company had been singled out when other prediction markets also operate in the state.
The post Robins Says DKeX Is Now the Clear No. 3 US Prediction Exchange appeared first on ReadWrite.