Digital Wager Wire highlights the most significant events affecting the domestic and international sports betting and gaming industries each week throughout the year.
DraftKings & FanDuel Withdraw Nevada Licenses
Although DraftKings and FanDuel control approximately 72% of the mobile sports betting market in the United States, neither is active in Nevada. However, they both have inactive sports betting licenses that they were keeping in their respective pockets for a later date.
However, those plans changed drastically when both recently announced that they were pulling their licenses in the Silver State due to both companies being poised to launch brands in the sports event contract prediction markets. Nevada, and many other state regulators, are adamantly against any of their sportsbooks joining the prediction market currently dominated by firms like Kalshi and Polymarket.
In October, the NGCB sent out a memo from Chairman Mike Dreitzer, stating, “Engaging in unlawful sports wagering in another state or entering into a business relationship with another entity offering unlawful sports wagering in another state may call into question the good character and integrity of the licensee.”
Conflict With Prediction Market Plans
Thus, once DraftKings launches its new entity, DraftKings Predictions, and FanDuel rolls out FanDuel Predicts, both would be at loggerheads with the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB), which has already sent cease-and-desist letters to Kalshi and other prediction market operators.
FanDuel, which has announced the December launch of FanDuel Predicts in states where sports betting is not allowed, released the following statement, which read, in part, “While we are enthusiastic about expanding FanDuel’s presence in Nevada, our views of the current opportunity for prediction markets outside of regulated states are unfortunately in direct opposition to Nevada’s priorities for its licensed operators.”
Both DraftKings and FanDuel have vowed not to operate in any states that have regulated sports betting, but that doesn’t matter to the NGCB, as evidenced by Dreitzer’s memo.
Illinois’ Per-Bet Fee Lowers Number of Wagers
Illinois legislators found a new and creative way to tax the sportsbooks that have already seen their taxes raised several times since the Land of Lincoln launched mobile sports betting in June 2020. In July, a per-bet tax of 25 cents for each online bet up to 20,000,000 bets and 50 cents on each bet thereafter was implemented. Naturally, this was not well received by the sportsbooks, especially the industry leaders, DraftKings and FanDuel, both of which announced they were passing the tax on to their customers. Some other sportsbooks have done the same, while others have simply raised their betting minimums.
In September, the first full month of football betting, Sports Betting Alliance of Illinois spokesperson Maura Possley announced that five million fewer bets were made in September 2025 compared to last September.
Flutter CEO Peter Jackson was nonplussed by the decline in wagers, considering his company is passing off the transaction tax to FanDuel’s customers, and discussed the increased revenue due to larger bets.
“As you’d expect, we’re seeing a reduction in the number of bets (in Illinois) but increasing handle per bet,” Jackson said during last week’s quarterly presentation. “When we look to the September data, Illinois is definitely behaving in line with other states.”
