NBA player and Kalshi investor Kyle Kuzma called out sports betting operator DraftKings for kicking customers "off the platform for winning.”
Key Takeaways
- Kyle Kuzma accused DraftKings of limiting or banning successful bettors while steering casual users toward high-hold parlays.
- Ex-DraftKings exec Matt Kalish ignited debate around prediction markets after arguing most traders are heavily disadvantaged against pro market makers.
- The debate comes as prediction markets continue drawing professional bettors frustrated with wagering limits at traditional sportsbooks.
Responding on X to an interview with DraftKings cofounder and former president Matt Kalish, Kuzma said the online sportsbook will “limit or ban anyone who shows skill,” and then added that prediction markets allowing all traders is “literally the best part” of the exchanges.
Kuzma also attacked DraftKings’ “25%-40%” hold on parlays and said the operator directs “casuals into boosted props engineered to lose.”
Love Matt but…DK’s own hold on parlays runs like 25-40%. They limit or ban anyone who shows skill (which literally is the best part of prediction markets) then funnel casuals into boosted props engineered to lose. Wall Street market makers are tough ofc but at least they don’t… https://t.co/gfsBbfrcln
— kuz (@kylekuzma) May 26, 2026
Kuzma, who spent this NBA season with the Milwaukee Bucks, is a tech investor who joined teammate and All-Star Giannis Antetokounmpo, as well as Houston Rockets star Kevin Durant, as players to get involved financially with Kalshi this year.
Kuzma recently announced he purchased a $36,000 contract on former reality TV star Spencer Pratt to become the next mayor of Los Angeles. The trade is worth over $133,000.
For my parlay papis I’m going big on @spencerpratt 🎥🇺🇸🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/pjWCL5X4ow
— kuz (@kylekuzma) May 25, 2026
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Calling out prediction markets
Kalish sparked Kuzma’s response when he told RASMR Report that nearly all prediction market traders are getting “decimated” by market makers while criticizing how exchanges like Kalshi market to consumers.
"I'm not saying these (prediction markets) shouldn't exist,” Kalish said on X. “What I'm saying is you can't market things one way like, ‘Oh, this is some nice site where Main Street has an advantage over Wall Street,’ like (Kalshi CEO) Tarek (Mansour) posted. Every single person, who's the 99% of normal users, are getting their ass handed to them and losing at a 90%-plus rate.”
Kalish has been sparking debates and discourse for several weeks with his criticisms of how prediction markets conduct business.
I’ve said my piece on Kalshi and have nothing further on the topic. We must stop the Kalshi gaslighting of retail bettors. I’m calling on all nations to come together and stop these fake marketing and PR teams from lying to the normal gambler. Now watch me hit this drive. pic.twitter.com/qjniDly5n0
— Matt Kalish (@mattkalish) May 23, 2026
Kalish left DraftKings in late 2025, right before the company launched its own prediction market platform, and he is now the CEO of media platform Hardscope. He helped start DraftKings, along with Jason Robins and Paul Liberman in 2012, evolving the company from a fantasy sports site to one of the two market-share sports betting and iGaming leaders in the United States.
Difference in operations
Legal battles are raging between more than a dozen states and prediction market platforms that offer sports-event contracts, which seems to ultimately be heading toward a Supreme Court decision, as trading exchanges operate differently from U.S. sports betting operators.
Instead of going against “the house,” or having traditional oddsmakers set a price, users of prediction market sites buy and sell “yes” or “no” contracts. The operator collects trading and facilitation fees instead of receiving a vig like on a sportsbook wager.
Trading exchanges aren’t limiting successful customers, which has driven many professional bettors to the crowded and fast-growing prediction market space.
Campaigning against bettor-limiting
Kuzma addressed an issue that is currently affecting the sports betting industry. Complaints have been ongoing for years about wagering limits on successful bettors.
Lawmakers and regulators are beginning to take action. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission determined in February that sports betting operators must inform customers why they can no longer bet the amount they used to be approved for on certain markets. The notice is expected to go into effect by the NFL season, although some sportsbooks can apply for waivers to delay the new process.
The New Jersey Assembly’s gaming committee recently approved and moved a bill that would force licensed sports betting operators to inform consumers of limits on play times, maximum wager amounts, and deposit and withdrawal restrictions.
