Sports predictions have found a new venue: 35,000 feet. DraftKings and Delta Air Lines have switched on SkyPicks, a free-to-play contest for passengers on Wi-Fi-equipped US domestic routes — built deliberately without a single feature that would qualify as gambling.
Key takeaways
- SkyPicks is live for passengers aged 21+ on Wi-Fi-enabled Delta domestic flights.
- Prizes are Delta Gift Cards, awarded via individual contests and monthly leaderboards.
- No wagers, no deposits, no entry fees — the design keeps it outside the Gambling Devices Act of 1962.
- Access runs through Delta Sync Wi-Fi and a SkyMiles account, which handles age verification.
- Launching with MLB contests; NFL follows later in the year, with room for basketball and other leagues.
The product does exactly what its name suggests. Eligible passengers answer questions about upcoming professional sporting fixtures and compete for Delta Gift Cards, with winners drawn from both individual contests and monthly leaderboard standings. What they cannot do is stake money — there are no deposits, no entry fees, and no way to lose anything by taking part.
That restraint is the point. Federal rules bar gambling aboard commercial aircraft, so the two companies built a product that sits on the entertainment side of the line rather than testing it. Delta first flagged the tie-up in early 2025 and has consistently framed it as live-sports entertainment rather than an onboard betting service.
How passengers actually get in
SkyPicks runs on personal devices only — phones and laptops. It is deliberately absent from Delta's seatback screens.
Getting in means connecting to the airline's complimentary Wi-Fi via a SkyMiles account and opening the Delta Sync homepage, from which SkyPicks can be launched. Players then sign in with an existing DraftKings account or create one. Delta leans on its SkyMiles records to confirm each entrant clears the 21-and-over threshold.
The questions themselves concern real fixtures: which side wins, which of two players outperforms the other, and in some contests a final-score tiebreaker. New contests appear several times a week, seeded initially with Major League Baseball matchups. NFL contests arrive later this year, and the format can stretch to basketball and other professional leagues.
Entry is only possible while the aircraft is airborne, though an existing entry can be managed after landing. Submitting picks triggers an email link that lets participants adjust selections and track the leaderboard until the contest closes; winners get separate instructions for redeeming their gift card.
Both sides are selling it as engagement, not gaming
DraftKings positions the launch as extending sports fandom into a window where fans are typically cut off from the action.
"At DraftKings, we believe interaction with sports shouldn't begin and end with the game itself—it should extend to every moment fans care about. Collaborating with Delta gives us the opportunity to reimagine what sports engagement can look like while traveling, bringing innovative ways for fans to stay connected to the games they love—even when they're in the air."
— Jeremy Elbaum, Chief Commercial Officer, DraftKings
For Delta, the logic is content strategy. The airline says sports consistently rank among the best-performing categories on its onboard entertainment platform, and it has been steadily layering in games and live programming to widen what passengers can reach mid-flight.
"With Delta Sync, our goal is to create an onboard experience that offers something for every customer—one that's connected to what customers love on the ground. For many of our customers, that includes sports. SkyPicks brings that passion onboard in a fun, free-to-play way."
— Ranjan Goswami, Chief Marketing and Product Officer, Delta
The regulatory line stays firmly drawn
There is no betting functionality inside SkyPicks, no account funding, and no paid entry. A passenger submitting picks cannot lose money doing so.
That architecture is a direct response to scrutiny. In 2025, US Senator Richard Blumenthal pressed both companies to guarantee their partnership would not bring gambling onto commercial flights, invoking the Gambling Devices Act of 1962. The finished product answers that concern by removing the wagering layer entirely.
Creating a DraftKings account through SkyPicks also does not unlock real-money betting by default. Anyone who later downloads the DraftKings Sports & Casino app must complete the standard registration process on the ground, with real-money play remaining subject to the usual rules and state-by-state availability.
The commercial rationale is easy enough to read. A 2025 Pew Research poll found 22% of US adults had wagered on sports in the previous year, up from 19% three years earlier — a growing audience, and one Delta now has captive for a few hours at a time.
