Polymarket to serve as clearinghouse for DraftKings' prediction market following Railbird acquisition

Blockchain-based betting platform Polymarket will serve as the designated clearinghouse for DraftKings’ upcoming predictions market, according to Polymarket founder Shayne Coplan. The disclosure comes on the heels of DraftKings’ acquisition of Railbird Technologies, a designated contract market regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

“Congrats to DraftKings on their acquisition of Railbird,” Coplan wrote in an X post on Wednesday. “We’re proud for Polymarket Clearing to be their designated clearinghouse as they enter the prediction market space.”

The move represents a significant development for Polymarket’s business-to-business operations,  adding to its already significant foothold in the global retail predictions sector.

Experts like Dustin Gouker, who writes about the gambling sector, have predicted that the predictions market environment — currently dominated by Polygon-based Polymarket and increasingly blockchain-friendly Kalshi — will be significantly reshaped by the entrance of retail-friendly platforms like DraftKings that already have distribution and brand recognition.

“If DraftKings and FanDuel start doing sports prediction markets in the short term, it's kind of over for Kalshi as a B2C company, I think. They need to be aggressive on the B2B front,” Gouker wrote on X. 

Beginning in September, Kalshi has surpassed  Polymarket in terms of volume, largely on the basis of sports betting. Polymarket has begun testing sports betting applications in the U.S., and early on Wednesday signed a multi-year licensing agreement with the National Hockey League alongside Kalshi.

Founded in 2012, DraftKings is active in 28 states and Canada for sports betting and five states for i-gaming, which represent over 90% of the platform’s total sales. Railbird has previously said it would use Polymarket as a clearinghouse, according to Gouker. 

Earlier this month, New York Stock Exchange parent company, Intercontinental Exchange, said it would invest $2 billion in Polymarket.