DraftKings Inc. hasn’t forgotten about Florida.
The online sportsbook operator’s top executive noted on Friday that they failed to get the required number of signatures in time to put a proposed constitutional amendment on Florida’s 2022 election ballot.
That amendment, if approved in November, would have allowed online sportsbooks such as that of Boston-based DraftKings to take mobile bets all over the Sunshine State. But Florida Education Champions — the political committee that was pushing the amendment and was supported financially by DraftKings and FanDuel Group — admitted defeat in January, even as it claimed support from more than one million Floridians.
“This is due to a variety of factors including COVID, as well as the compressed timeframe given when signature-gathering started,” DraftKings CEO Jason Robins said Friday. “We are very encouraged, however, by the over one million individuals who signed petitions in less than eight months, which shows that Floridians do want the opportunity to vote on a competitive mobile sports betting market in the state.”
Robins added DraftKings is exploring all options to ensure Florida does get that opportunity as soon as possible.
“And if we were to refile, we are very confident that given the extended timeframe, we will be able to qualify for the 2024 ballot,” the CEO said during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call.
To all my friends from Florida (where I grew up), please go to https://t.co/kiewJKYkk1 to request a petition to be mailed to you to sign (or for faster results you can print, fill out and sign). We only have about 10 days left so time is of the essence! This is going to be close
— Jason Robins (@JasonDRobins) January 12, 2022
Robins’ comments come as legal sports betting is in limbo in Florida, which is the third-largest state in terms of population and a highly-desirable market for sportsbook operators. At the moment, there is no authorized retail or mobile option for gamblers and no certainty around when one might arrive.
The Seminole Tribe of Florida does have a compact with the state that gives them control over sports betting, but federal approval of that deal was struck down by a judge in November. This led to the tribe shutting down its Hard Rock Sportsbook in the state in early December.
While the compact court case has been appealed by the federal government, there are no guarantees of what the outcome will be. In the meantime, Florida sports bettors are stuck waiting.
DraftKings is waiting for another crack at the Sunshine State as well. The company had pumped more than $20 million into the 2022 ballot initiative effort (with FanDuel chipping in over $14 million), but getting a question on the 2024 ballot will require starting the whole process over.
So, for now, the operator will have to get by with places that have recently launched online sports betting, such as New York, where Robins claimed there is already “chatter” about lawmakers considering lowering the state’s 51% tax rate on wagering revenue. DraftKings can also look ahead to states planning to launch mobile wagering this year, such as Maryland.
Meanwhile...
On Friday, DraftKings released its fourth-quarter and full-year financial results, with both revenue and its net loss growing in 2021. While revenue rose 101% year-over-year to $1.3 billion, the company’s loss widened by 22.6% to $1.5 billion for 2021.
Yet Robins told analysts and investors during the call that the operator took a record dollar amount of bets in the fourth quarter. And DraftKings had a 32% share of the online sports betting handle in states where it’s available, he added.
The CEO also said it took less than 24 hours to acquire 100,000 first-time paid bettors in New York following the state’s launch on January 8. To compare, in next-door New Jersey, it took DraftKings 170 days, Robins said.
“There is no question that customers are joining our platform faster than they did in states that we launched in previous years,” he added.
