DraftKings Inc. (NASDAQ: DKNG) shares plunged 7.42% Tuesday to close at $19.59, extending a sharp decline even as fresh analyst commentary pointed to healthy early-season NFL betting activity.
The stock touched a new 52-week low of $19.55 and traded 24.457 million shares, more than double its average daily volume of 12.042 million, according to Yahoo Finance. DraftKings was down 6.6% at $19.77 at 2:51 p.m. ET before weakening further into the close.
The selloff came hours after Stifel reiterated a Buy rating and $36 price target. The firm highlighted roughly 15% year-over-year growth in DraftKings’ sportsbook handle during the first two weeks of the NFL season, excluding predictions, while also pointing to lower promotional spending than a year earlier.
The growth figure itself was not new. DraftKings CEO Jason Robins had disclosed the increase at the Wells Fargo Consumer Conference on Sept. 22, meaning Stifel’s Tuesday note reiterated a previously disclosed operating trend rather than introducing a new company update.
Prediction-Market Scrutiny and Spending Remain in Focus
Prediction markets returned to the regulatory spotlight Tuesday after House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer expanded an inquiry into potential insider trading on prediction platforms.
The latest requests went to Hyperliquid Labs, Crypto.com, and Aristotle Exchange, the owner of PredictIt, following earlier requests involving Kalshi and Polymarket. DraftKings was not named among the companies in the reported requests.
DraftKings entered the prediction-market business in June with the launch of DKeX, its proprietary exchange within DraftKings Predictions. The expansion has placed the company in a market category attracting increased attention from lawmakers and regulators, although Tuesday’s congressional action targeted other companies.
The business is also expected to require additional investment. Robins said at the Sept. 22 Wells Fargo conference that stronger-than-expected early customer acquisition could lead DraftKings to increase spending and bring forward some investment previously planned for 2027.
StoneX later cut its 2026 adjusted EBITDA estimate to $575 million from $675 million, citing expectations that prediction-market investment could exceed $400 million.
Pricing competition has also drawn analyst attention. Citizens reiterated its Market Outperform rating and $35 price target on Sept. 28 after comparing 30 NFL Week 3 pricing data points across DraftKings, FanDuel and Kalshi. The firm found that Kalshi’s implied pricing was roughly in line with FanDuel’s and about 3% better than DraftKings across the games examined.
Brazil Move Adds Broader Betting-Sector Regulatory Context
Meanwhile, betting companies faced a separate regulatory development in Brazil, where the government prohibited fixed-odds betting under a provisional measure.
Flutter Entertainment, the parent of FanDuel, said Monday that it had stopped sports betting and iGaming operations in the country and estimated that remaining closed for the rest of 2026 would reduce revenue by about $70 million and adjusted EBITDA by roughly $20 million.
DraftKings does not list Brazil among the sportsbook markets in its latest disclosures, so the measure did not represent a newly announced impact on its operations.
DraftKings’ 7.42% decline therefore came without a new company operating announcement that clearly accounted for the size of Tuesday’s move. The shares instead fell on heavy volume, with investors also weighing fresh betting-sector regulatory headlines and previously disclosed questions about prediction-market spending and pricing competition.
