DraftKings on winning the NH betting tender and operating exclusively in the state
Chief compliance officer Tim Dent says firm's competitive revenue share offering played a role in the firm winning the contract
DraftKings last week won the exclusive tender to provide mobile and retail betting in New Hampshire, as part of a deal with the state lottery.
The mobile offering, which will mirror its app in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, will go live in January.
However, retail is likely to be rolled-out in Q2 of 2020.
Chief compliance officer at DraftKings Tim Dent spoke to EGR NA about the RFP process, how DraftKings came to win the tender with its competitive revenue share offering, and where Kambi fits into the equation.
Time Dent – Chief compliance officer for DraftKings
EGR North America (NA): What did the RFP application process look like for the New Hampshire lottery tender?
Tim Dent (TD): We put in a lot of time and effort in preparing and presenting our business case to the lottery. New Hampshire is very important to us as we live in New England. We thought it was important that we try our best to win the business and we were lucky they saw our product as being the right one for the people of New Hampshire.
EGR NA: How did you manage to make such a competitive offer of a 50% revenue share with the lottery?
TD: It was a blind process so we had no idea what others were offering but again we wanted to make sure we would win the business.
I wouldn’t want to speak for the lottery director but I’d imagine [the revenue share offer] was probably part of his calculus but you’d have to ask them.
EGR NA: Where does Kambi fit into the equation?
TD: Kambi will still be our business partner as they are in the other four states we currently operate in. They provide the risk management and the back-office technology for us, but it’s going to be the same front-end mobile product that is currently live in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Indiana.
EGR NA: What is the timeline for retail betting in the state?
TD: The timeline is fluid, we’ve already been up there to meet with a handful of potential locations for retail but that would come second [to mobile] in late Q1 or more likely Q2.
For mobile we’re definitely going to hit the January date and meet the governor’s expectations on that. We’re working with the lottery right now to ensure we’re meeting all the requirements they have and from there we’ll be able to tighten up the timeline.
EGR NA: Do you think local bettors will be limited by the lack of competition in the state?
TD: That was a decision that was made by the legislature and the lottery and our bid, especially from a revenue share perspective, provided different revenue shares depending on the different number of competitors.
We’ve always embraced competition and advocated for an open market but in this case it was a decision made by the legislature that granted the lottery the authority to determine how many operators there would be. Secondly is was the lottery’s decision to go with one operator.
We believe we have the best product in the market so we don’t think the consumers will be missing out on much.
EGR NA: What states is DraftKings looking at next?
TD: Tennessee has posted its initial draft regulations this week and the application process for Tennessee is one we’ll be part of. We’re working right now on Iowa as we have a market access deal with Wild Rose and are looking to go live there in the new year.
Then Colorado, which is starting to move and we’ll be participating in that process. That’s how we see the first half of the year unfolding for new states for DraftKings.