DraftKings DKeX Volume Surges with Start of Football Season

DraftKings (NASDAQ: DKNG) is taking steps to bolster DKeX, its in-house prediction market exchange, with data indicating the operator is routing more volume through DKeX now that the 2026 football season is here.

Data from Eilers & Krejcik Gaming’s (EKG) PMI Databook indicate that for the week ending Sept. 7, or Week 1 of the 2026 college football season, turnover on DKeX surged nearly 610%, by far the largest increase among major prediction market operators.

DKeX reaching volume levels on par with Crypto.com’s Nadex is impressive because the latter clears trades for multiple prediction markets. Aggregate volume on DKeX, Nadex and Novig is currently small compared to the two largest yes/no exchanges, but turnover on those three platforms is rapidly expanding.

DKeX Combo Volume Soaring, Too

With two NFL games in the books and the second week of college football season here, demand for prediction market combos — industry-speak for parlays — will almost certainly accelerate in the weeks and months ahead.

DraftKings, which self-certified combos just a month ago, is already capitalizing on that opportunity set by routing more multi-leg contract volume through DKeX.

“Combos were around 46% of total DKeX volume in the first week of September,” adds Allen. “DraftKings also looks to be sending combo flow to DKeX, with combo contract volume up 826% to more than 100 million.”

The EKG analyst points out that combo contract volume on DKeX ballooned so rapidly that it now ranks third behind only the two largest prediction market operators.

DKeX Growth Matters

On multiple fronts, including DraftKings’ planned prediction market expenditures, DKeX volume growth is important and arguably impressive. The platform debuted in late June and is already proving to be a force in terms of capturing sports event contract activity — a fast start undoubtedly assisted by the World Cup and the arrival of football season.

DKeX’s growth trajectory is also relevant to DraftKings investors because it not only validates the vertical integration the company pursued with its prediction efforts — one that’s increasingly popular across the industry — but it also indicates the Railbird Technologies acquisition announced last October was a smart deal.

By acquiring Railbird, DraftKings gained access to the exchange technology needed to reduce its dependence on third-party exchanges.