DraftKings CEO: Increasing our live betting lead is a focus for 2025
Jason Robins points to recent Simplebet and Dijon Systems acquisitions as ways in which New York-listed operator is taking in-play betting “to another level”
DraftKings CEO Jason Robins has said the operator is making in-play betting an area of focus for 2025, as he noted how it now accounts for up to 80% of revenue for UK online sportsbooks.
On an analyst call following the Boston-headquartered operator’s Q4 results, Robins highlighted live betting in his address before the Q&A portion of the call.
Last August, the operator acquired Simplebet to boost its in-play betting offering, which was followed up months later with the purchase of golf pricing firm Dijon Systems to bolster its golf betting products.
And Robins highlighted how those recent acquisitions, among others, will elevate the in-play experience for customers going forward.
He said: “In 2025, one area of focus is expanding our lead in live betting. Our recent acquisitions of Simplebet, Sports IQ Analytics, and Mustard Golf provide us with proven technology and analytical tools that will accelerate our product roadmap and bring the live betting experience to another level.”
Expanding further, CFO Alan Ellingson said the gambling market is trending towards players trying out new betting types and live betting is an increasing market, referencing the UK as an example.
With the conclusion of Super Bowl LIX, where the operator saw over 2.5 million active players place 12 million bets on the game, Ellingson highlighted how US sports are “very well built” for in-play betting and a “natural evolution” for customers to place bets during events.
Ellingson added: “Most customers are not going to come and make the first bet as a live bet. They’re going to bet pre-match. So, it really is about getting our existing customers to continue to adopt live betting.
“If you look at the trends overseas, that’s sort of the story, right? It grew each year from more and more existing customers adopting it to the point where now it’s 70%, 80% of revenue in the UK for digital sportsbooks.
“There’s definitely an upside here […] US Sports are very well built for in-play betting. We saw a lot [of in-play betting] in the Super Bowl, more this year than we had in prior years, and I think as time goes on, we’re going to create better products that appeal to customers.
“[With] the natural evolution and maturity of the customer base, people are going to try new sports, they’re going to try new bet types and that will lead to more live betting.”
Still work to do
Taking time to praise the DraftKings team for the progress made in the live betting product, but with the caveat that there is still work to do, Robins stressed the importance of a seamless user experience when using the app so customers are able to bet and watch the game simultaneously.
He noted the operator is building the “best products” and stated US sports leagues and broadcasters want to avoid viewers just watching the game.
Robins said: “There’s a couple of things. One is obviously the product and we’ve made a tremendous amount of headway, but also still feel we have a lot more we can do there.
“Very proud that we had one of the, by far, industry’s highest uptime for markets, including in-play during the Super Bowl and that’s a big area of focus.
“Obviously, if the markets are not there, people can’t bet. Secondly, I think beyond the product [it’s about] really working with the broadcasters and the streamers to try to get low latency broadcasts and streams available for customers that want to [place] an in-play bet on a more micro basis.
“It’s hard when you’re 20, 30 seconds behind. It almost makes the experience [so that you chose to] to play just on the app instead of watching a game, which I don’t think is as good and certainly not what the broadcasters and leagues want.
“Really for us, it’s both of those. It’s working with the other stakeholders in the industry to help create an ecosystem that allows the customer to maximize their experience and then making sure, on our end, we’re building the best products and making sure they’re up and running when they want to make bets.”
Robins was also asked about DraftKings’ interest in event contracts, with retail brokerage platform Robinhood pulling Super Bowl event contracts less than 24 hours after they went live due to a request from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to suspend the offering.
“It’s early,” he replied. “We are watching it very actively. It’s certainly something that we have keen interest in seeing how it plays out.
“I think in the next couple of months, there’s going to be a CFTC ruling. I think we’ll know a lot more over the next few months.”
In DraftKings’ Q4 results announcement today, revenue increased 13% year on year (YOY) to $1.4bn.
Net losses grew to a negative $134.9m, or 28 cents per share, compared with $44.6m in Q4 2023 – while there was a steep fall in adjusted EBITDA, down from $151m YOY to $89.5m.