Unit21 Bolsters Compliance Systems for PrizePicks
The fantasy sports and prediction markets industries are entering a pivotal moment. Explosive user growth, rapid product innovation, and expanding regulatory oversight are forcing operators to rethink how they manage compliance, oversight, and risk at scale.
PrizePicks is leading that shift. Rather than waiting for regulatory pressure to drive change, the company proactively enhanced its AML infrastructure to support rapid growth and an expanding regulatory footprint.
Today, Unit21 announced that they have been selected by PrizePicks, the largest sports entertainment operator in the U.S., to provide the real-time compliance and AML infrastructure required to scale regulated prediction market products with confidence.
The Unique Compliance Landscape Facing Fantasy Sports & Prediction Markets
Fantasy sports and prediction markets operate within uniquely dynamic regulatory environments. High-velocity transactions tied to live events, complex user behaviors across shared wallets and devices, rapid product innovation, and regulatory oversight, including CFTC and NFA requirements, all contribute to a heightened compliance landscape.
As the industry continues to grow and mature, operators are increasingly investing in scalable, bank-grade AML controls, continuous monitoring, and robust regulatory reporting frameworks to support expansion across jurisdictions and product lines.
PrizePicks has taken that forward-looking approach as it expands into regulated prediction markets, prioritizing infrastructure designed to support long-term growth and evolving oversight.
Why PrizePicks Chose Unit21
PrizePicks was looking for a platform that could evolve as quickly as their business.
They were looking for a partner that could:
- Go live quickly to support new regulated product launches
- Provide continuous transaction monitoring aligned with AML expectations
- Deliver ongoing sanctions screening
- Enable compliance teams to operate independently
- Support audit readiness and regulatory reporting as oversight increased
Unit21 was built for exactly these challenges.
“Unit21’s innovative approach to fraud prevention and anti-money laundering is a game changer,” said Abby Farris, Director of Enterprise Compliance, PrizePicks. “We’ve grown our product offerings rapidly over the past year, and this new integration will ensure we’re able to operate without issue while abiding by regulations.”
The unified platform brings together transaction monitoring, sanctions screening, case management, AI-assisted alert review, and direct regulatory reporting, all configurable without code and purpose-built for highly regulated, fast-moving industries.
Value And Impact Since Partnering
Since deploying Unit21, PrizePicks has transformed how it detects risk and scales compliance operations.
- Always-On Compliance: With continuous OFAC and PEP screening, PrizePicks ensures users are monitored persistently as they transact.
- Operational Efficiency at Scale: AI Agents assisting in alert triage, allowing PrizePicks to scale investigations without scaling headcount. Shadow mode testing allows fast new rule deployment while safely managing alert volumes.
- Audit-Ready by Design: Direct FinCEN SAR filing and built-in audit trails give the compliance team confidence as regulatory expectations increase.
Together, these capabilities allowed PrizePicks to move fast without compromising control.
A Partnership Built for What Comes Next
What makes this partnership stand out isn’t just the technology, it’s the collaboration.
PrizePicks worked closely with Unit21 to tailor controls to the realities of fantasy sports and prediction markets, from multi-account detection to permissioned access for internal teams and BPO partners. The result is a compliance operation that’s strategic.
“PrizePicks represents exactly the kind of forward-thinking operator we built Unit21 for,” said Trisha Kothari, CEO and Co-Founder of Unit21.“They didn’t treat compliance as a checkbox. They treated it as infrastructure. Together, we’ve shown that it’s possible to scale trust and meet evolving regulatory expectations without slowing innovation.”
Setting the Blueprint for the Industry
As fantasy sports and prediction markets continue to grow, the bar for compliance will only rise. Operators that rely on legacy tools or manual processes will struggle to keep pace with regulators, fraudsters, or their own growth.
PrizePicks is proving there’s a better path forward.
At Unit21, we’re proud to support PrizePicks as they continue to set the standard for what modern, scalable compliance looks like in gaming and prediction markets and are excited to help define what comes next.
Trisha Kothari is the co-founder and Chairman of Unit21, a solution that proactively mitigates risks tied to money laundering, fraud, and other illicit activities. She served as CEO from inception for over 7 years, leading the company through its early growth and evolution. Trisha is driven by a powerful mission to empower the fight against financial crimes. Her professional journey, deeply rooted in engineering and product management, includes significant roles at companies such as Google, LinkedIn, and Affirm. During her tenure as an early engineer and product manager at Affirm, Trisha gained firsthand insight into the gross inefficiency and siloed ways that AML and Fraud operated. This experience served as a catalyst for her to develop innovative AML and Fraud solutions that Unit21 now offers today.
After leaving Affirm in 2018, Trisha joined South Park Commons, a community of builders, tinkerers, and domain experts. There, she met her co-founder and began tinkering with the concept of Unit21. Follow Trisha on LinkedIn, where she usually discusses new regulatory changes to be aware of, reacts to industry trends, and shares Unit21 product enhancements.
