DraftKings appears set to launch its in-house prediction market exchange, as the exchange has self-certified its first contracts, which could go live Wednesday, while also debuting new branding for its in-house exchange.
Six new filings were submitted to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Friday and published Tuesday. The filings were first reported by DeFi Rate.
DraftKings currently offers users of its “Predictions” product access to contracts from either CME or Crypto.com. However, in October it purchased Railbird, which is registered as a designated contract market (DCM) and can therefore offer its own contracts.
The self-certifications use the name DKeX, rather than Railbird, and a new logo for the exchange.
Self-certificaiton is how virtually all new prediction market contracts are listed. An exchange operator submits a new contract that it wants to list to the CFTC, and if the regulator does not object then the contract can be listed.
Six new contracts
Railbird self-certified six contracts, titled “Gamewin,” “Gamespread,” “Gameproperty,” “Entitystat,” “Entityoutperform,” and “Entityachievement.”
ptc0522264039“Gamewin” is a normal moneyline contract, “Gamespread” is a point spread, “Entitystat” and “Entityachievement” are both player props, and “Entityoutperform” involves one player or team performing better than another in an event. “Gameproperty” involves a number of other outcomes not covered by the previous five contracts, such as over/unders or the timing of scoring events.
The self-certifications did not include a filing for parlays, though many types of parlay could arguably fit under the “Gameproperty” or “Entityachievement” contracts.
Will contracts launch Wednesday?
The filings say that DKeX intends to list the contracts after the close of business Wednesday. However, exchanges do not always make contracts live on the days listed on their self-certification filings. Even if DraftKings does launch the contracts this Wednesday, it may be as a test. Robinhood-owned Rothera self-certified its first contracts earlier this month and began listing them on May 21, but only as a limited test. The contracts are not yet widely available on the Robinhood app.
DraftKings CEO Jason Robins said on May 8 he expected that the new exchange would launch in “the coming weeks.”
