What is SkyPicks? Delta & DraftKings Launch Free-to-Play Sports Game
Delta Air Lines and DraftKings have launched SkyPicks, a free-to-play sports prediction contest that eligible passengers can play in the air through the airline's Delta Sync Wi-Fi.
DraftKings announced the product on July 29, and stressed repeatedly that it involves no betting, deposits, real money or financial risk, positioning it as entertainment rather than gambling even though it runs on a DraftKings account.
It sits a step away from the US sportsbooks and online casinos where DraftKings takes real-money wagers.
How SkyPicks Works
The contest is open to Delta SkyMiles Members aged 21 and over on US domestic routes, and it plays out on personal laptops or phones rather than seatback screens.
Players sign in with a DraftKings account, or create one, then answer a set of questions tied to real fixtures, a mix of player head-to-heads such as "Who will have more points?" and straight game-winner picks.
Top scorers in each contest and on monthly leaderboards win Delta gift cards.
SkyPicks starts with Major League Baseball contests, with NFL matchups due later in 2026 as the season begins. Two new contests run each week, and passengers can enter the next upcoming contest even if their own team is not playing on their travel day.
Delta described SkyPicks as its tenth onboard experience, alongside existing tie-ups with partners including FOX, The New York Times and YouTube.
What Each Side Wants
"With Delta Sync, our goal is to create an onboard experience that offers something for every customer," said Ranjan Goswami, Delta's chief marketing and product officer. "SkyPicks brings that passion onboard in a fun, free-to-play way, giving SkyMiles Members another way to engage with the games and conversations they love while they fly."
For DraftKings, the value is reach. The operator is one of the biggest names in sports betting in the United States, and SkyPicks funnels a new, captive audience of travellers into creating DraftKings accounts.
Jeremy Elbaum, chief commercial officer at DraftKings, said the company wanted sports interaction to "extend to every moment fans care about" and that working with Delta let it "reimagine what sports engagement can look like while traveling."
The Regulatory Question
The partnership was first teased at CES in January 2025 and has drawn political attention since. US Senator Richard Blumenthal publicly urged the two companies not to allow gambling on board, pointing to a long-standing federal law that bars gambling on commercial flights.
Delta's launch materials answer that directly, describing SkyPicks as not connected to real-money sportsbook activity and noting that customers under 21 will not see the DraftKings experience in the Wi-Fi portal at all.
Whether a free contest that requires a betting-operator login stays clear of gambling rules is the question regulators and campaigners will watch as the product scales. Delta said SkyPicks is available now on aircraft fitted with Delta Sync Wi-Fi, with NFL content to follow.
