DraftKings Misses Revenue as CEO Says Prediction Market Rivals Are 'Spinning Narratives' Ahead of NFL Season

DraftKings Misses Revenue as CEO Says Prediction Market Rivals Are 'Spinning Narratives' Ahead of NFL Season

Daragh Thomas

Fri, August 7, 2026 at 10:31 PM GMT+3 2 min read

• DKNG +8.39%

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DraftKings (NASDAQ:DKNG) missed second-quarter revenue expectations Thursday, but Wall Street quickly moved past the miss to a bigger question: whether prediction markets are becoming the company's next major growth engine.

Prediction markets dominated the Q&A, with analysts asking about cannibalization, customer acquisition, regulatory uncertainty, DK Exchange and the economics of vertical integration.

Later, Robins went on CNBC and accused rival platforms of "spinning narratives that just aren't true."

An Earnings Miss, But Not The Main Event

DraftKings reported revenue of $1.44 billion, down 5% year over year and below the $1.52 billion consensus estimate. The company blamed customer-friendly outcomes, including the Knicks' NBA title and the U.S. World Cup run, along with higher promotional spending.

Adjusted earnings of nine cents per share beat a two-cent estimate. But the call was less about one noisy quarter than about whether DraftKings can turn predictions into a national business.

Predictions Dominated The Call

Roughly 600,000 customers have engaged with the company's predictions product, and annualized volume grew from $2.3 billion in April to $11 billion in July, according to management.

DK Exchange is live, and DraftKings has received FCM approval, giving it brokerage, exchange and market-making pieces under one roof.

Robins said revenue per prediction customer will likely run below sportsbook levels, but argued vertical integration could support similar gross profit per customer over time. That is the core pitch: DraftKings wants to own the customer, the exchange and the market-making layer, giving it more ways to monetize each trade than a front-end-only operator.

Robins Fires At Rivals

After defending the opportunity on the call, Robins sharpened the message on CNBC, rejecting the claim that prediction markets are fundamentally different from sportsbooks because customers often trade against market makers and institutions.

DraftKings says customer overlap with the largest prediction market operator is roughly 1% in sportsbook states, and that 80% to 90% of consumer volume there comes from professionals and syndicates. If accurate, predictions are not eating DraftKings' sportsbook. They may be opening the states where sportsbooks remain blocked.

The Regulatory Flashpoint

Prediction markets let DraftKings reach customers in states where sportsbooks remain blocked, under a lighter tax and licensing regime, with access to users under 21 in markets where sportsbooks face tighter restrictions. Whether regulators and state lawmakers allow that gap to survive is the open question hanging over the entire category.

DKNG shares were trading around $23.40 Friday afternoon, up 5% on the day.

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This article DraftKings Misses Revenue as CEO Says Prediction Market Rivals Are 'Spinning Narratives' Ahead of NFL Season originally appeared on Benzinga.com

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