DraftKings CEO Says Company 'Excited' About Expanding into Canada

After launching its mobile sportsbook in New York and Louisiana this month, DraftKings is looking to expand in other markets. One of those markets is Canada.

DraftKings CEO Jason Robins said the company is preparing for the April 4 launch of commercial mobile sports betting in Ontario.

“We’re pretty excited about Ontario,” Robins said.

DraftKings began operating in New York on Jan. 8, and during the first 24 hours the company gained 100,000 first-time paid bettors, DraftKings reported during an earnings call on Friday.

By comparison, DraftKings acquired that number of first-time bettors over 17 days in Arizona, 170 days in New Jersey, 312 days in Pennsylvania and 344 days in Indiana.

New York Leads U.S. in Mobile Wagering

With about 20 million residents, New York is the fourth-largest U.S. state. Three states with larger populations — California, Texas and Florida — do not have legal sports betting.

In the first 30 days, New York sports betting took in nearly $2 billion in wagers, the highest total in the nation

Louisiana Kicks Off Sports Betting in Late January

Robins noted the launch in Louisiana, the latest stop in the company's expansion, bettors placed $40.5 million in bets in the first four days.

With a presence in New York and Louisiana, the DraftKings Sportsbook is operational in 17 states, representing 36% of the U.S. population. The company anticipates going live with its app in three additional jurisdictions where mobile wagering has been legalized: Maryland, Puerto Rico and Ohio. Its iGaming operation is live in five states.

DraftKings should make a smooth transition in Ontario as it already operates its daily fantasy business in Canada.

Revenue Report Shows Yearly Increase

In conjunction with the fourth-quarter earnings call, DraftKings released the following:

• The company’s full-year 2021 revenue was $1.3B, a 101% year-over-year increase.
• An average of two million monthly unique payers engaged with DraftKings each month during the fourth quarter of 2021, a 32% year-over-year increase.

Robins said DraftKings “exceeded our expectations” during the fourth quarter.

“We enter 2022 positioned to grow our market share, further optimize our user experience and continue to strengthen our multi-product suite of offerings,” he said.

During the past year, shares of publicly-traded DraftKings, headquartered in Boston, have fallen by 63% through Thursday.