FanDuel and DraftKings Drop CME Sports Contracts Ahead of Retirement, Yet Exchange Volume Holds Steady on Baseball Activity
CME will retire sports event contracts this Friday per an August filing, the second exit after ForecastEx. Despite FanDuel and DraftKings stopping offerings over a month ago, volume persists in millions, mostly baseball at $1,000 increments, higher than spring levels but below Kalshi’s billions. Duffy has called individual contracts manipulated.
SCCG Take — Persistent volume without primary partners points to other participants, underscoring manipulation risks highlighted by Duffy and the need for closer CFTC oversight in these niche markets.
FanDuel and DraftKings have both stopped offering CME sports event contracts at least a month ago, ahead of the product class being retired this Friday. According to an August filing, CME will stop offering sports and cultural event contracts after Friday, making it the second platform to exit after ForecastEx. As reported by InGame, FanDuel has not offered any sports trades from CME in a month, while DraftKings ceased even earlier.
Sports volume has nevertheless remained in the millions of dollars in recent weeks. This represents almost half of the platform’s peak during the early stages of the FIFA World Cup and exceeds levels from April and May. The figure remains a small fraction of daily volume on Kalshi, which routinely tops a billion dollars.
Baseball Dominates Remaining Sports Volume
Almost all current sports volume on CME is concentrated in baseball. Football game markets attracted no volume, even during the first two NFL games of the season, while football team markets drew only a few hundred dollars.
Baseball game volume has registered in exact multiples of $1,000, a pattern not expected from retail bettors. One possible explanation is market makers closing positions, but the focus on individual games makes large accumulated liabilities unlikely for several contests per day.
The Open Question on Sustained Activity
DraftKings and FanDuel continue offering non-sports CME contracts on Bitcoin prices and S&P 500 targets. CME partnered with the operators in 2025, yet CEO Terry Duffy has opposed many prediction market products. Duffy has stated that parlay contracts are “not markets,” that certain types are susceptible to manipulation, and that “individual-based” sports event contracts are “being manipulated.”
FanDuel Predicts operates as a futures commission merchant 51%-owned by CME and has shifted sports volume to Crypto.com after filing for an independent FCM. DraftKings has moved to its in-house DKeX platform. The source and intent behind the remaining CME sports volume therefore remain unclear, particularly given the manipulation concerns already raised by the exchange’s leadership. This pattern tests the viability of such contracts once major distribution channels withdraw.
Reporting: InGame
Generated by SCCG’s automated editorial system from published source reporting. SCCG Management holds editorial responsibility.
Volume without major operators suggests unusual activity—exactly the manipulation risk Duffy warned about and regulators should scrutinize.
We've watched prediction markets evolve across 30+ years, and orphaned volume in a dying product is a red flag. FanDuel and DraftKings moved on; somebody's still trading baseball in exact $1,000 blocks. That's not retail. It underscores why platform integrity and surveillance matter as this category matures.
- CME retires sports event contracts Friday; FanDuel and DraftKings stopped offering weeks ago
- Millions in baseball volume persists in exact $1,000 increments—pattern inconsistent with retail behavior
- CME CEO Duffy has publicly flagged manipulation risks in individual sports event contracts
SCCG angle: SCCG works with operators building prediction and event-contract products. We connect you to the right platforms, compliance architects, and surveillance providers who understand how to structure markets that scale cleanly—and avoid the traps CME just walked away from.
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