One of the biggest battles in entertainment this year has been between sports betting giants and the new prediction market juggernauts entering that space, Kalshi and Polymarket. TheGrill is thrilled to welcome the CEO and co-founder of DraftKings Jason Robins with Vice Chairman Harry Sloan to the 2026 conference, two players at the center of this pitched competition.
Robins and Sloan will discuss the rise of DraftKings from private startup in 2012 to becoming a publicly-held entertainment giant with a $12 billion market cap, and the new challenges posed by the race for dominance in the world of prediction markets and sports betting. This has swiftly become one of the most powerful forces shaping how audiences participate in live entertainment. Robins built DraftKings through an FBI inquiry, cease-and-desist orders in more than a dozen states and a 2018 Supreme Court decision that opened American sports betting. Today the company operates a licensed sportsbook in roughly two dozen states and a federally regulated prediction markets platform in the rest, placing it squarely inside the escalating fight between state regulators and Washington D.C. over who governs the business. As Chairman and CEO of Eagle Equity Partners LLC, Sloan has taken multiple media companies public including DraftKings, through SPAC transactions. He previously served as Chairman and CEO of MGM, leading the studio through its return to independent operation, and founded SBS Broadcasting and New World Broadcast. Together, Sloan and Robins offer a particularly timely conversation about where prediction markets are headed and what happens when sports, technology, finance and entertainment collide.
They join a lineup of powerhouse speakers:
- Adam Aron — Chairman & CEO, AMC Entertainment
- Adam Fogelson — Chair, Lionsgate Motion Picture Group
- Eduardo Acuna — CEO, Regal Global Entertainment
- Makan Delrahim – Chief Legal Officer, Paramount Skydance
- Kim Larson — Managing Director & Head of Creator and Gaming Team, YouTube
- Jo Cronk — Co-CEO, Whalar
- Kevin Goetz — Entertainment Strategist & CEO, Screen Engine
- Yves Bergquist — AI Researcher, Entertainment Technology Center, USC
- Jason Zada — AI Filmmaker
TheGrill will be at the DGA Theater in Los Angeles on Sept. 30. As a bonus, your ticket also gets you into AI Creator Day on Sept. 29. One ticket. Two days. Full program and seats here.
TheGrill is sponsored by Antenna, Artlist, City National Bank, Gerber Kawasaki, Lionsgate and Viva Pictures.
The post The Battle Over Prediction Markets: DraftKings CEO Jason Robins and Vice Chairman Harry Sloan Join TheGrill 2026 appeared first on TheWrap.
