Polymarket partners with fantasy sports app PrizePicks ahead of US relaunch

Polymarket is partnering with another major U.S. platform that allows customers to wager on sports.

The prediction markets platform said Tuesday it had struck a partnership with the fantasy sports app PrizePicks. Unlike traditional betting platforms, PrizePicks is mainly focused on fantasy play, where users pick players and wager money based on how the athletes perform in their given sport.

Polymarket, which calls itself the world's largest prediction market, said it will help PrizePicks offer its users chances to wager on the outcomes of certain event contracts, including those related to entertainment or cultural moments. According to a Bloomberg report , Polymarket plans to relaunch in the U.S. later this month.

Prediction markets are expected by many to be a major growth area, especially in the U.S., where sports betting is already a multi-billion-dollar per year industry. For PrizePicks and major sports betting platform DraftKings , it's also an opportunity to service customers in states that prohibit traditional gambling.

PrizePicks CEO Mike Ybarra said as much Tuesday during an interview with CNBC .

"This is about expanding the number of customers that we have for our product but also enabling use to enter new states such as Washington and welcome millions of more people to the PrizePicks environment," he said.

DraftKings, which is also planning to work with Polymarket, had its CEO also say during an earnings call last week that he sees prediction markets helping add to its customer base. Polymarket will serve as the designated clearinghouse for DraftKings’ upcoming predictions market. That news emerged after DraftKings acquired Railbird Technologies, a designated contract market regulated by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Through the Polymarket and PrizePicks partnership, the latter "will integrate Polymarket's event contracts ... giving fans a new, dynamic way to engage with the world around them."

When asked on CNBC about possible concerns related to allowing people to wager on events that could be manipulated, PrizePicks' CEO said the company would approach prediction markets with some caution.

"We're not going to offer everything that's out there," Ybarra said. "We're going to make sure we curate what's available that's in the interest of our players, but also something we believe is fair for everyone to participate in."

PrizePicks, which stated it is the only platform of its kind to be registered as a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) by the National Futures Association (NFA), also said it can "offer CFTC-permitted derivatives contracts through partnerships with federally regulated exchanges."

In July, Polymarket set itself up for relaunching in the U.S. when it acquired QCX , a licensed derivatives exchange and clearinghouse.