MAU Vegas 2026 Puts Prediction Markets on the Main Stage

Kalshi CMO Allan Maman joins execs from DraftKings and PrizePicks as prediction markets continue to draw significant media coverage and regulatory attention.

“Growth teams in prediction markets are dealing with the same questions as the rest of the industry but with an added layer of regulatory and trust complexity.” ”

— Angela Harar, VP of Strategy and Growth at MAU

LAS VEGAS, NV, UNITED STATES, May 8, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Prediction markets have been among the most discussed topics in both the financial press and the broader consumer technology industry over the past two years — from federal regulatory decisions to rapid user growth among major platforms. MAU Vegas 2026, taking place May 19–21 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, will feature speakers from Kalshi, DraftKings, and PrizePicks addressing how their teams are navigating user acquisition, measurement, and retention in a category that continues to evolve quickly.

Sessions will cover how growth teams at prediction markets companies are approaching strategy in the AI era, how to measure true incrementality in a high-noise media environment, and how challenger brands are finding user acquisition approaches outside the conventional performance marketing playbook.

More than 2,500 growth marketers, product leaders, founders, and executives are expected to attend three days of keynotes, tactical sessions, peer-driven roundtables, and curated networking experiences designed around the questions growth teams are actually wrestling with right now.

Featured Speakers: Prediction Markets & Growth

Allan Maman — CMO, Kalshi
Session: “When customers stop searching and start asking: How growth teams are adapting for the AI era” · Wednesday, May 20 · 9:50–10:10 AM · Main Stage

Allan Maman is the Chief Marketing Officer of Kalshi, the first federally regulated prediction markets exchange in the United States, which received CFTC approval in 2023. At MAU Vegas 2026, Maman joins a fireside conversation on how growth teams are restructuring their strategy as AI reshapes the customer discovery funnel. Drawing on new research with BCG, the session examines where mobile fits in the emerging media mix, which signals actually matter, and what a growth strategy looks like when the traditional search funnel is no longer a reliable constant. Maman brings experience building audience and brand awareness for a product category that required significant consumer education from the outset.

Melanie Whisler — Manager, Digital Marketing Analytics, DraftKings
Session: “When the Game Changes the Game: Measuring True Incrementality in a World of Sports, Screens, and Noise” · Wednesday, May 20 · 2:40–3:00 PM · Innovation in Action Stage

Melanie Whisler leads digital marketing analytics at DraftKings, one of the most recognized consumer brands in the prediction markets and sports betting space. Her session at MAU Vegas gets into the measurement problem that defines marketing in this category: DraftKings does not advertise in a vacuum. Game schedules shift, big matches steal attention, and the competitive media environment changes week to week. Working alongside INCRMNTAL’s VP of Marketing Science Hadar Telem, Whisler will share how DraftKings approaches true incrementality — separating signal from noise in a high-spend, high-stakes environment where the difference between correlated and causal matters enormously.

Jeff Gurian — Vice President, Acquisition, PrizePicks
Session: “Fueling Growth with Blue-Ocean Framework Inspired Tweaks That Make Competition Immaterial” · Wednesday, May 20 · 3:30–4:10 PM · Innovation in Action Stage

Jeff Gurian leads user acquisition at PrizePicks, the daily fantasy sports platform that has become one of the fastest-growing apps in the prediction markets category. His panel session challenges conventional growth wisdom: instead of out-spending or out-optimizing competitors in an increasingly saturated performance marketing landscape, Gurian argues for creating new demand in uncontested space. Drawing on the Blue-Ocean Strategy framework, the session examines the micro-adjustments that allow a challenger brand to make the competitive environment largely irrelevant — a timely thesis for any growth team watching CPIs climb and platform inventory tighten. Gurian joins a panel of fellow acquisition leaders from Scopely, Communix, and DogPack.

Prediction Markets at MAU Vegas 2026

Prediction markets — platforms where users wager on the outcomes of real-world events, including sports, politics, and entertainment — have received substantial coverage in the financial and technology press in recent years. Regulatory activity, including the CFTC’s approval of federally regulated exchanges, has brought increased scrutiny and attention to the category. Several platforms in the space have reported notable user growth and have become frequent subjects of coverage in major business and consumer publications.

For mobile marketers, the category presents a specific set of operational challenges: navigating compliance constraints on advertising content, managing first-deposit conversion, measuring performance accurately in a high-noise media environment, and building user retention in a category with significant churn. These are topics that map directly to MAU Vegas’s core programming focus.

“Growth teams in prediction markets are dealing with the same fundamental questions as the rest of the mobile industry — acquisition costs, measurement accuracy, incrementality, and retention — but with an added layer of regulatory and trust complexity,” said Angela Harar, VP of Strategy and Growth at MAU. “Hearing directly from practitioners at companies like Kalshi, DraftKings, and PrizePicks gives our attendees a concrete look at how those challenges are being handled in the real world.”

These sessions are part of a broader MAU Vegas 2026 program that spans AI and automation, creative strategy, retention, monetization, measurement, and product-led growth, across three days of practitioner-led content.

About MAU Vegas

MAU Vegas is the premier global gathering for mobile growth professionals, bringing together marketers, founders, developers, product leaders, investors, and executives for three days of high-impact content, curated networking, and community in Las Vegas. MAU Vegas 2026 will take place May 19–21, 2026 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Learn more at mauvegas.com.

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Ceci Dadisman
MAU Vegas
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