Flutter CEO explains FanDuel Predicts for sports betting in U.S.

In a Wednesday interview with CNBC’s Jim Cramer, Flutter CEO Peter Jackson detailed how the FanDuel parent’s new prediction markets platform allows people in states where sports betting is illegal to wager on sports outcomes.

“Prediction markets are, you know, regulated by the CFTC,” Jackson said, referring to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. “And in our partnership with CME, we’re going to be able to make these products, the sports products, available in all the states where FanDuel does not have a sports betting license.”

FanDuel announced Wednesday it had partnered with derivatives marketplace CME Group to launch mobile app FanDuel Predicts, which is set to be released in December. Along with sports, the platform will offer event contracts on “benchmarks such as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100, prices of oil and gas, gold, cryptocurrencies, and key economic indicators such as GDP and CPI,” the companies said in a press release.

Predications markets allow users to bet on the outcomes of numerous events in sectors like politics, business, pop culture and sports. Unlike traditional sports betting, they are federally regulated and are considered trading platforms, not gambling platforms. Online sports betting is currently illegal in some highly-populated states such as California and Texas.

Jackson told Cramer that Flutter would not make the sports prediction product available in areas where users can access FanDuel sports betting. He said he was confident in the success of the new platform, pointing to the strength of the FanDuel brand and Flutter’s experience with global betting exchange Betfair.

“We’re going to put a lot of money behind it in a disciplined way,” he Jackson said. “But we will win in America like we have done in sports betting and iGaming.”