- Underdog Founder and CEO Jeremy Levine announced the company is surrendering their daily fantasy sports licenses in seven states.
- That most notably includes Underdog best ball drafts, headlined by their Best Ball Mania VII draft that offers $15 million in prizes.
- Levine said that Underdog had to choose between offering “CFTC-licensd products” and drafts due to certain state legal viewpoints.
BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Underdog daily fantasy sports drafts like their best ball drafts will no longer be available in seven states after Wednesday’s NFL Kickoff. Underdog Drafts will be shut down in Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Ohio as the company shifts their focus to prediction markets.
Underdog Founder and CEO Jeremy Levine made the announcement on Saturday. Those already entered in draft competitions will be unaffected, but there will be no more draft competitions offered in those seven states after Wednesday.
Drafts community, I have some not fun news to share. Right after kickoff on Wednesday, we will be shutting down Drafts in seven states: MA, MD, MI, MS, NJ, PA and OH. Already entered drafts will continue as normal, but in those states you won’t be able to enter new drafts. If…— Jeremy Levine (@JerLevine) September 5, 2026
Predictions To Blame For Underdog Best Ball Death
According to Levine, the reason why Underdog can no longer offer DFS in that specific handful of states is due to conflict with prediction markets, a region that Underdog has dove into heavy. Levine’s statement says that “Those states have taken a legal viewpoint we disagree with: if we offer our CFTC-licensed products we cannot offer fantasy sports in those states. So we had to choose. We could keep our fantasy licenses in those states, or surrender the licenses and offer effectively our full experience, minus Drafts.”
Drafts put Underdog on the map since they launched in 2020, and DFS was their main attraction until recent success with prediction markets. That success with prediction markets contributed to Underdog’s $1.3B sale to global financial technology company IG Group Holdings.
Underdog entered the predictions scene with Crypto.com and Kalshi partnerships, but then launched their own exchange. Underdog acquired a designated contract market (DCM) and derivatives clearing organizations (DCO), both CFTC-registered, respectively named Aristotle Exchange DCM and Aristotle Exchange DCO.
That March acquisition solidified their transition from a legal sports betting to predictions, which ultimately paid off at the expense of loyal, day one DFS fans. Levine expanded further on the decision to surrender the DFS licenses.
“It sucks. I love Drafts. It was the first game we ever launched and a big part of what built Underdog. Even though they don’t get anywhere near the usage of our other offerings, we still care deeply about them. And it pains me that we can’t do right by the Drafts community and offer the best experience possible to the most customers.”
Levine also said that “We have some ideas about how to get Drafts back to more customers, but it’s too early to commit to anything yet,” so drafts could potentially come back in the future for these states. For now, Underdog best ball and other DFS drafts will be shutting down across seven states due to conflict with Underdog’s prediction offerings.
