CEO Jason Robins talks up DraftKings’ lottery customer acquisition and in-play opportunities
Robins talks up DraftKings’ lottery customer acquisition and in-play opportunities
Speaking during its full year 2024 and Q4 earnings call, he said DraftKings was leaning on its live betting and digital lottery acquisition capabilities.
For 2024, DraftKings fell short of its previously set EBITDA guidance of $240 million (£191 million/€228.7 million) to $280 million. Earnings were impacted by customer-friendly NFL results in Q4. But the year did mark its first-ever positive EBITDA of $181.3 million.
When asked to provide some colour to this year’s guidance, Robins provided very little detail on the gaming giant’s plans. But he did hint at huge opportunities in live betting.
“We have a number of initiatives that are lined up and we do think that the investments we’re making into live betting will be EBITDA positive in 2026,” Robins said during the call.
He noted that in-play betting had reached its peak during the recent Super Bowl. Robins called that “a very encouraging sign” of what’s to come.
“The US sports are very well built for in-play betting,” he said.
“[And] 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’ll lead to more like that.”
DraftKings betting on in-play explosion
Robins said the betting style has exploded in the UK. It now makes up between 70%-80% of digital sports betting revenue in the UK.
“As time goes on, we’re going to continue to figure out ways to better create products that appeal to customers,” he said.
DraftKings acquired micro-betting specialist Simplebet in August last year. At the time, DraftKings said Simplebet’s in-house technology would allow it to offer more and faster wagering options. The company said it would also help reduce customer friction.
Robins echoed this during the call. He said, “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.”
Digital lottery drives cross-sell
He said a push to further integrate other emerging verticals would also help drive earnings growth.
In particular Robins noted its Jackpocket product had proved a hugely successful cross-sell channel into betting and igaming.
DraftKings acquired the digital lottery app in February 2024 for $750m. It is expected to generate up to $340m in additional revenue annually.
“Jackpocket has been great in terms of both cross-sell and also, we have had really strong customer acquisition during its last $1 billion jackpot run. I do think that there’s room to invest more there,” Robins said.
“For us, it’s probably more effective in states where there’s legal sports betting and igaming because the LTVs (lifetime value) in the immediate term are going to be higher because we can cross-sell right away.
“If there are states that we think we can efficiently build a customer base, similar to what we’re doing in DFS, I think that’s also a great opportunity. We want to make sure we’re prepared to add a lot of really efficient customers to that app.”
Considering crypto and stable coins
Elsewhere, the chief executive expressed an interest in accepting cryptocurrencies like stable coins in the future. He said this was entirely reliant on regulators becoming getting on board with crypto in gambling.
“It’s certainly something we’re looking at,” he said. “It’s also [about] getting regulators comfortable with it, because regulators typically are cautious around crypto in the States. At a federal level, there’s a lot of pro-crypto deregulation coming. That certainly affects the state’s perspectives, but they still need to get comfortable with it.”
He added that DraftKings would “take a more serious look” at crypto if it becomes an accepted payment opportunity in a large number of states.
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