We all know DraftKings Inc. as one of the two leading daily fantasy sports companies. It’s been that way since they exploded on to the scene in 2012. But in New Jersey where they launched their sportsbook in December, soon after online sports betting became legal last year they branched out into a whole new business.
Now, we’re starting to see just how much of an impact online gambling has had on their bottom line.
DraftKings is reporting that after just eight months, operating as a sportsbook in just one state, legalized sports betting is already accounting for one third of their total revenues. That is especially astounding when you consider that as a fantasy sports company they operate in 42 states. 42 states!
Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of DraftKings, Jason Robins summed it up perfectly when he said, “we had no idea it was going to be this popular. Now we’re putting more behind it”.
One thing they are doing is starting to branch out into more states as a sportsbook as they also launched in Pennsylvania this summer.
Those numbers gives some insight on how the company intends to grow and just how massive the potential growth mobile betting has for this business. In year one, New Jersey was the rare state that offered both mobile sports gambling along with a host of online casino games such as poker and blackjack.
But there have been several new states and jurisdictions that have passed legalized gambling legislation this year and the vast majority of them will be offering online options. That is largely because they’ve seen that if they want to earn major revenues from sports betting, it is essential to include online options. New Jersey which is taking in roughly 80% of their revenues through mobile betting has showed them the way.
Illinois, Washington DC, Iowa, Indiana, Oregon, Puerto Rico are just a few of the areas that will be jumping into the online sports betting world in the near future and you can bet that DraftKings with their hugely successful app and model will look to be there. And those states and places would be fools not to welcome them with open arms since they seem to have found the right formula that are getting people to bet on sports in New Jersey using their app above all others.
As it stands in New Jersey 90% of DraftKings’ total revenue is coming from some form of online betting. 50% of that from sports betting and 40% from iGaming. The rest from daily fantasy contests.