Summer 2027
Data Science Intern
Posted on 9/1/2026
DraftKings
5,001-10,000 employees
Online platform for fantasy sports betting
No salary listed
Boston, MA, USA
In Person
Bachelor's
 AI & Machine Learning (1) |
|---|
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- Currently enrolled in a four-year Bachelor's program.
- Proficiency in Python and a solid foundation in statistics.
- Experience working on collaborative technical projects through internships, coursework, or extracurricular activities.
- Familiarity with version control systems such as Git.
- Work within complex, production-level systems to support the development and deployment of machine learning solutions.
- Learn the end-to-end process of engineering design, model development, scalable system deployment, and ongoing operations.
- Contribute to ongoing internal research and development initiatives.
- Partner with a team mentor to onboard smoothly and navigate workflows effectively.
- Previous internship experience in a corporate or technical setting.
- Curiosity to explore new tools, techniques, and technologies.
DraftKings runs an online gaming and entertainment platform that includes daily fantasy sports, sports betting, online casino games, and a marketplace for digital collectibles. Users participate in cash-prize fantasy contests or place bets on events, and the platform handles bets, winnings, and digital-asset transfers within a regulated environment to ensure fairness. The company differentiates itself by offering a broad mix of services—fantasy sports, real-money betting, casino games, and NFTs—on a single platform with strong regulatory compliance. Its goal is to provide a complete, legally compliant entertainment and gaming experience that appeals to sports fans, gamblers, and digital collectors while growing revenue across contests, bets, casino games, and NFT trading.
Company Size
5,001-10,000
Company Stage
IPO
Headquarters
Boston, Massachusetts
Founded
2012
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- Q2 2026 sportsbook handle rose 15% to $13.1 billion, despite softer revenue.
- DraftKings maintained 2026 guidance: $6.5-$6.9 billion revenue and $700-$900 million EBITDA.
- DraftKings' Best Ball Millionaire offers $20 million prizes, driving September 2026 engagement.
What critics are saying
- California class actions filed August 13 and August 5 attack Predictions as illegal gambling.
- HardScope's $30 million Kalish deal fueled governance criticism while CEO Jason Robins controls voting.
- Regulatory rejection of event contracts would kill Predictions and its 2026 growth thesis.
What makes DraftKings unique
- DraftKings owns sportsbook, predictions brokerage, exchange, and market-making stack end-to-end.
- DraftKings had 600,000 Predictions users and $11 billion annualized volume by July 2026.
- DraftKings closed a $700 million term loan B and $750 million revolver August 25, 2026.
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↑ 0%DraftKings hosting free gas giveaway in Detroit on Wednesday. Free gas promotion taking place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Sunoco station in Detroit. DETROIT - DraftKings fans in Detroit will have a chance to fill up their gas tank for free on Wednesday as part of a nationwide promotion to celebrate the start of football season. The DraftKings Gameday promotion will kick off at 10 a.m. and run until 2 p.m. at the Sunoco gas station on Livernois and Joy Road on the city's west side. The last eligible vehicle will be allowed to join the line at 1:30 p.m. "The start of football season is one of the most exciting times of year at DraftKings, and 2026 marks a major milestone for our company," said Stephanie Sherman, chief marketing officer at DraftKings, in a news release. "This is our first football season with DraftKings Sports available to fans nationwide, and Gameday is our way of kicking off the season and celebrating our customers by bringing together exclusive offerings, giveaways and unforgettable experiences across the country." Former Michigan Wolverines basketball star and Fab Five member Jalen Rose and former Detroit Tigers third baseman Brandon Inge will also be on-site to meet fans, take photos and hand out giveaways. Free gas will be made available for passenger vehicles only, on a first-come first-served basis, while supplies last. Eligible participants must be at least 21 years old and able to verify their age. No advance registration, DraftKings account or purchase is necessary to participate, the company said. Similar promotions are also being held today in Los Angeles, Miami, Dallas and Atlanta. DraftKings SERVES, the company's community impact program, will also be making a $50,000 donation to Disabled American Veterans as part of the celebration, which helps provide injured and disabled veterans with free transportation to VA medical facilities and appointments.
DraftKings faces California class-action lawsuit over prediction market product. Californians who lost money on the app claim its an unlicensed sportsbook. Faced with growing competition from prediction markets, several sportsbook operators have also gotten into the event contracts business over the last few months. FanDuel debuted a prediction market option in November. Fanatics entered the space in December, and DraftKings launched Predictions the same month. DraftKings' expansion has now been met with a lawsuit. A class action in California accuses the company of allowing illegal gambling. The lawsuit seeks injunctive relief and financial damages. "DraftKings deceives consumers by marketing Predictions as a legitimate 'prediction market' rather than a sports betting product, designing the platform to mimic a sportsbook while describing the activity as 'trading,' failing to implement responsible gaming safeguards, permitting users as young as [18] to trade, and shifting all legal risk onto consumers through its terms of use, even while acknowledging active litigation and regulatory uncertainty surrounding event contract legality," the lawsuit said. Marketing of illegal platform. In the lawsuit, plaintiff Ricardo Andrio and other California residents allege they lost money using the platform. They said they wouldn't have used the platform had they known it was illegal. The suit followed extensive marketing by DraftKings in states with large populations but without legal sports betting. That included California, Texas, Georgia, and Florida. Prediction markets claim that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, rather than state gaming regulators, regulates them at the federal level. Under that structure, they contend that they are legal trading platforms. The lawsuit also alleges the company used its name recognition to push Californians into using its prediction market platform. "After years of refraining from operating in these states, DraftKings has now sought to evade and circumvent state laws that bar its sportsbook operations," the lawsuit said. Tribes oppose prediction market expansion. The legal action is playing out as sports betting remains a hot topic in the Golden State. In 2022, California voters rejected two sports betting initiatives. Some tribal gaming groups are now pushing to bring the issue back before voters in 2028. Tribes hold a substantial amount of power in the state. Most opposed mobile wagering during the 2022 election but supported the proposal to allow in-person wagering at tribal casinos. A plan in 2024 that tied wagering to the state's tribal gaming operators failed to gain any traction. Tribes opposed the proposal because planners didn't include them in planning the initiative. Tribes are now concerned about prediction markets taking market share from them. Three tribal gaming groups are battling Kalshi and Polymarket in court. "They're focused on California, but they won't have an easy journey here," California Nations Indian Gaming Association Chairman James Siva said in April. "The tribes are massing in number and unified in purpose. They won't have the access and the ease of this market they think they will."
DraftKings reveals 2026 Best Ball rankings ahead of its record 20 million dollar fantasy contest. Fantasy football analysts finalise DraftKings best ball rankings as platform announces record-breaking tournament. Published 08/30/26 AT 6:51 PM AEST Fantasy football analysts are finalizing their DraftKings best ball rankings for the 2026 NFL season as the platform prepares to launch its largest best ball tournament in company history, a contest offering 20 million dollars in total prizes and three separate millionaire winners. Best ball leagues have surged in popularity in recent years because they require no in-season roster management. Players draft a full squad, typically 18 to 20 players, at the start of the season, and the platform's software automatically assembles the highest-scoring lineup each week from the players on that roster, eliminating the need for weekly waiver claims or lineup swaps. On DraftKings specifically, best ball rosters are built around four position groups: quarterback, running back, wide receiver and tight end. Because a best ball roster is locked in on draft day and never adjusted afterward, analysts across the industry stress that draft-day rankings carry more weight in this format than in traditional season-long leagues. Draft Sharks, one of several outlets publishing 2026 best ball rankings, put it bluntly in its published guidance for the format: "Your Best Ball draft will define you for the balance of the year. The cold, hard truth is - after you draft, your team is set in stone. So you'll either be a savage on draft day... or spend the rest of the year in pain." Rankings across major fantasy outlets show some disagreement at the very top of the board, reflecting genuine uncertainty about which running back deserves the first overall pick this year. FTN Fantasy's published 2026 DraftKings best ball rankings list Atlanta's Bijan Robinson as the top overall selection, followed by Detroit's Jahmyr Gibbs at the No. 2 slot and Cincinnati wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase at No. 3. Rounding out FTN's top 10 are Los Angeles Rams wideout Puka Nacua, Seattle's Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Detroit's Amon-Ra St. Brown, Indianapolis running back Jonathan Taylor, Dallas' CeeDee Lamb, Minnesota's Justin Jefferson and San Francisco's Christian McCaffrey. Other outlets have reached a different conclusion on the top overall pick. NBC Sports' fantasy football rankings, compiled ahead of this year's DraftKings Best Ball Millionaire contest, instead list Gibbs as the new 1.01, describing him as the "runaway" choice for the top overall selection heading into 2026 drafts. The split among experts underscores how thin the margin has become between the league's top handful of running backs and elite pass-catchers, with wide receivers increasingly being drafted earlier than in past seasons as best ball scoring has evolved to reward high target volume and big-play upside. RotoBaller, which publishes tiered rankings covering the top 300 players across all four roster positions for DraftKings formats, has emphasized that its 2026 rankings differ meaningfully from the outlet's parallel rankings built for the rival platform Underdog, since the two sites use different scoring rules and roster construction requirements. The outlet advises drafters to consult format-specific rankings rather than assuming a single universal cheat sheet will translate cleanly between platforms. Beyond the individual player rankings, this year's headline storyline for DraftKings' best ball offerings is the scale of its marquee contest. The platform is promoting a Best Ball Millionaire tournament carrying a total prize pool of 20 million dollars, which DraftKings has described as the largest best ball contest in the company's history, with three separate participants set to be crowned millionaires by the end of the competition. As part of a promotional push tied to the contest, DraftKings has also rolled out a "Draft One, Get One" offer, under which entering a lineup in the 20 million dollar contest for 25 dollars earns players a bonus ticket to enter a second, free best ball lineup for an additional shot at the prize pool without paying twice. Analysts building best ball rankings say their models draw on a wide range of statistical inputs beyond simple projected point totals. RotoGrinders, another outlet publishing 2026 rankings for both DraftKings and Underdog, said its process incorporates millions of data points, including historical usage metrics such as targets, touches and overall opportunity share, layered with the site's own statistical modeling built specifically around best ball scoring dynamics. Similarly, Draft Sharks said its rankings begin with baseline player projections before layering in ceiling and floor outcomes designed to capture each player's realistic range of weekly performance, along with an additional multiplier the site applies to boost players it identifies as having elevated spike-week scoring potential, a trait considered especially valuable in a format where a single monster performance can be enough to carry a fantasy roster through the playoffs. With NFL training camps having wrapped up and the regular season set to begin, fantasy analysts across outlets including RotoBaller, FTN Fantasy, NBC Sports, RotoWire and FantasyPros are continuing to update their DraftKings best ball rankings on a near-daily basis to account for late roster moves, depth chart changes and preseason performance, guidance that industry outlets say remains especially critical in the run-up to a format where, unlike traditional leagues, there is no opportunity to correct a mistake once the draft clock starts ticking.
DraftKings and Flutter Entertainment are competing for leadership in the increasingly competitive online gaming industry, with distinct strategies and geographic footprints. DraftKings focuses on its US Super App and new Predictions offering, while Flutter relies on FanDuel's scale, international operations, and cost management. DraftKings reported encouraging metrics in Q2. Sportsbook handle rose 11% year over year, with monthly unique payers up 9%. Customer acquisition jumped nearly 75%, whilst acquisition costs fell approximately 25% below projections. Trailing 12-month revenue per customer increased 14% during the first half of 2026. The company's Predictions platform shows early promise, with over 600,000 customers engaging and annualised volume traded surging nearly fivefold to $11 billion by July. However, DraftKings plans to invest $200-300 million in Predictions during 2026 amid regulatory uncertainty.
Dave Ramsey told a caller struggling with gambling debt that "DraftKings is not a blessing to your life" during an August episode of The Ramsey Show. Joey, 31 days sober from gambling, owed $23,000 across four credit cards after initially accumulating $28,000 in app-based gambling debt. DraftKings reported a 6.8% sports net revenue margin in Q2 2026, meaning it kept roughly $7 per $100 wagered. Despite this house edge, the company posted a $68 million quarterly net loss. Ramsey advised Joey to attack his debt smallest-balance-first, noting that 24% annual percentage rates compound sharply. He recommended deleting gambling apps and redirecting former wager money to credit card payments as immediate steps for recovery.