DraftKings Hits The Jackpocket, But Stumbles, in Q1

DraftKings, the other Big Beast of U.S. online sports betting and iGaming, has reported revenue of US$1.41 billion (£1.06bn) for its first quarter of 2025, an increase of 20 percent, year-on-year.

The growth was primarily attributed to improved customer engagement – and its recent US$750 million (£565.17m) acquisition of California-based Jackpocket, the lottery-of-lotteries app, completed in May last year.

Massachusetts-headquartered DraftKings, DFS pioneers with Flutter’s FanDuel, who have also just reported an impressive Q1, reported 4.3 million average monthly unique paying customers (MUPs), up 28 percent year-on-year; more than half of this key metric boosted by the Jackpocket buy.

Nevertheless average revenue per MUP in Q1 declined by five percent to US$108 (£81.35), compared to the same quartile last year.

Revised Guidance

And “customer-friendly” sports outcomes in March have also led to DraftKings revising its full-year 2025 revenue forecast to a range of US$6.2 billion to US$6.4 billion (£4.66bn-£4.81bn) – down from its prior estimate of US$6.3 billion to US$6.6 billion (£4.74bn-£4.97bn).

But DraftKings CEO and Co-founder Jason Robins was also quick to point out that these revised figures were still 32 percent up on midpoint guidance issued last year.

2025’s Adjusted EBITDA projection, accordingly, has also been revised to between US$800 million (£602.55m) and US$900 million (£677.86m); reduced from earlier guidance of a maximum US$1 billion (£753.21m).

Looking forward, DraftKings–operating mobile sports betting in 25 of the 50 U.S. states, and the capital, Washington D.C.–is now planning to expand coverage into Missouri, pending approval.

Kicker

On the wider iGaming front, DraftKings is offering 360 digital products in Canada’s Ontario province and five American states, covering some 11 percent of the U.S. market by population.

“Recent product enhancements are driving our performance and our customer metrics continue to be strong through an evolving macroeconomic environment,” asserted Robins.

Alan Ellingson, DraftKings CFO, added the kicker: “We have a healthy balance sheet and repurchased 3.7 million shares in the first quarter under our existing stock repurchase program.

“If not for March, we would be raising our fiscal year 2025 revenue and Adjusted EBITDA guidance.”