DraftKings CEO Jason Robins took part in a wide-ranging panel on the current state of online sports betting in the U.S. at the fourth annual Craig-Hallum Online Gaming Conference on Monday.
Among the topics of discussion were the sports betting and iGaming prospects for 2025. Though Missouri is currently the only state that will welcome legalized sports betting, Robins sees 2025 as "another huge growth year."
"Every sign is pointing to that," Robins said. "Obviously, really excited about state legislative front. 2024 was an election year. It's always hard to get gaming bills done in an election year. I think this year coming up, 2025, we're going to get some real momentum potentially even get some iGaming bills over the hump, which should be great."
DraftKings’ U.S.-based start
Robins was asked about the challenges DraftKings faced launching in the U.S. without the backing of a global gambling operator, citing rivals like FanDuel with Flutter and BetMGM with Entain.
“While having a presence and focus here, having a customer base, having a brand, all helped a ton, initially we were behind when it came to product and technology,” Robins responded. “It wasn’t until we acquired SBTech and then ultimately put a lot of work into over the last several years that we feel like we’re really a premier place in the market when it comes to our technology and our product capabilities.”
The DraftKings' CEO speculated the company’s U.S. start will become increasingly advantageous because its technology caught up with many competitors. He also believes FanDuel and DraftKings are likely to consolidate market share as the top two operators even with a new wave of competitors.
He also directly compared DraftKings and FanDuel, explaining why the competitor is still ahead in some areas. According to Robins, DraftKings does well in college sports, which have a lower hold than other U.S. sports. Meanwhile, FanDuel excels in NBA bets, the highest-hold sport in the U.S. These subtle differences explain some differences in numbers and figures shown in revenue and betting handles, with Robins calling the differences “marginal.”
"If you look at it from a handle share standpoint, we're actually neck and neck, even a little ahead of them," Robins said. "Player wise, we're about even. So, I like the fact that we're at a place where we get sort of the same benefits of network effects and other kinds of things that come with being a market leader, but we're actually still staring at so much upside, with every move upward of hold rate."
Comparisons with the U.K.
Robins spent significant time discussing the similarities and differences between the U.K. and U.S. markets. Robins pointed out some of the most obvious contrasts, including that global soccer is the most popular sport in the U.K., which is different in the U.S., where the NFL is the most dominant sport.
Robins rejected the idea that sports betting could never be as prominent in the U.S. as in the U.K.
“I just don’t buy that,” he said. “The U.S. leads in almost every single entertainment spend per capita category, so I don’t know why this would be different. Obviously, gaming in general is very large in the U.S., whether it be through lotteries or casinos, so it never quite made sense to me. We always kind of viewed the U.K. as at least the floor.”
However, Robins did point out that the launch of both online industries was very different, noting the U.K. market had much more rudimentary technology when it emerged, with no live or mobile betting. When predicting where the U.S. market would grow, Robins said, “I think it will be the largest in the world amongst the regulated markets by any measure.”
