CME Loses FanDuel Predicts Sports Contracts to Crypto.com

Flutter Entertainment announced on Wednesday that all sports and novelty contracts on FanDuel Predicts will be moved to Crypto.com’s exchange, while CME Group will continue to supply only financial market contracts. CME holds a 51% equity interest in FanDuel Prediction Markets Holdings LLC, formed in December 2025 with $10.2 million from CME. However, the financial contracts CME retains represent less than 1% of the app’s activity, according to Sportico.

Flutter’s CEO Peter Jackson stated that the move will allow FanDuel to ship products faster ahead of the NFL season. The decision comes three weeks after CME CEO Terry Duffy told analysts on a July 22 call that many sports prediction markets amount to gambling and are open to manipulation. Duffy did not name FanDuel or Flutter on the call.

Flutter reported $6 million in market-making revenue in the second quarter and expects approximately $50 million in both revenue and adjusted EBITDA benefit for 2026. The company said FanDuel Predicts revenue was not material in Q2, with second-half gross revenues expected to be offset by customer-acquisition costs before rising in 2027. Flutter has previously disclosed about $300 million in full-year Predicts investment.

Under a June 10 partnership, Crypto.com’s North American Derivatives Exchange (Nadex) is registered with the CFTC as a designated contract market and derivatives clearing organization. The same entity sought federal preemption in July as states moved against sports event contracts. Customer accounts remain with FanDuel Prediction Markets LLC, a registered futures commission merchant that is the CME-majority-owned entity.

Rival DraftKings solved a similar ownership issue by launching its own proprietary exchange, DKeX, on June 26, using a CFTC license acquired with Railbird Technologies. DKeX now lists sports event contracts in 18 states. FanDuel appears to be pursuing a similar path: in April, it registered a new entity, New Ventures III, with the National Futures Association as a futures commission merchant, without CME. Flutter has not commented on whether that filing is related to this week’s announcement.

Flutter also announced that CEO Peter Jackson is leaving, with Dan Taylor taking over on October 1. The company cut its U.S. revenue guidance by $395 million and adjusted EBITDA guidance by $210 million, and reported a $296 million net loss. Shares closed at $92.91, down 11.5%.

Meanwhile, CME’s own event contract business continues to grow. CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick said the exchange has handled roughly 525 million event contracts since launch, with over 140,000 accounts trading them in Q2, up 13% from the prior quarter, and average daily volume exceeding 4 million contracts, up 40%.

Source: https://news.bitcoin.com/igaming/cme-keeps-51-of-fanduel-predicts-but-loses-its-sports-business/