DraftKings CEO Jason Robins Talks Earnings, Future of Gambling
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Bloomberg Audio Studios. Podcasts. Radio. News. DraftKings CEO Jason Robbins, delighted to say, joins us. There has been some, let's say, back of the napkin math, and people look at the revenue forecast being lowered by about $200 million, right? Bear with me, Jason. Is that exactly how much DraftKings lost on March Madness, the $200 million figure? Yeah.

No, we actually put out the numbers. We have a bridge in our earnings materials. It was a little bit less, but overall, it's not too far off. Okay. Talk to us a little bit about what's too far off as well. What else is driving perhaps an expected downgrade in full year guidance? Analysts seem to be taking this well on the chin as are investors, but the regulatory environment as well. How much are you having to nuance for that?

Well, we put this out that we had about $170 million from sport outcomes and then $30 million came from Jack Pocket being caused to not be operating anymore in Texas. But then the overall fundamentals of the business were actually very strong. We saw increased to structural hold rate, our promotional efficiency increased. So some of those things offset as well. So really the fundamentals of the business are about as healthy as can be.

I think the real question is when will these sport outcomes turn around? It's been two quarters in a row now, but obviously that happens and that's part of the greatness of the product is that customers can win and they can go on winning streaks like this and it makes it a lot of fun obviously. We'll see. It was the first time and I think second time ever there were all four number one seeds in the final four. Only the first time ever that that happened with also all twos and one three seed in the Elite Eight.

You never know, maybe there will be another year like that, but probably not. It was more likely an anomaly. And NBA playoffs already have had a bunch of upsets, so it tends to kind of swing around the other way over time. - Ah, too much consistency. But what also is consistent, Jason, is what a massive jump in your monthly active use is when you talk about the jackpot in particular.

And I'm interested in how Jack Pocket is transferring to other sports, casino games and the likes, or are people sticking to that lottery application?

Well, the Jackpocket is still very early in its growth. It's still quite nascent. So we believe there's a ton of upside for that business and we're excited about it. We haven't fully integrated it into the DraftKings app yet. We haven't put it on our platform yet, which should dramatically increase both the conversion metrics and also the cross-sellability and marketing ability. And the cross-sell is already well above our expectations. So we think there's even more upside there.

So we're pretty excited about it. We think there's a lot of growth potential, but it's still small. So the overall impact on the business isn't great yet, but hopefully that changes as Jackpocket continues to grow.

Jason, in your industry there are big almost legacy names, Las Vegas Sands for example, that are pulling out of bids for land-based casinos. And I wonder how much you can assess their nervousness that online gambling just cannibalizes demand for land-based and how that impacts you.

Well, it's certainly a perception that we have to fight because it's out there. I do think that the facts are very mixed on that. While there's certainly some examples you can point to where there's been diminishing markets where they've had online gaming, it's also often where there have been declines going into that. And then you see the complete opposite story in states like New Jersey, where they grew and really reversed a declining trend for years after

legalizing online gaming. And it's also different property to property. I do understand, though, why if you're a company that has no iGaming play right now, doesn't have an app, doesn't have a way to make money off of it, that this wouldn't be seen as any upside for you. And so naturally, if there's no upside, there can only be downside. And I do understand that. But I think the amount of cannibalization and the downside has been greatly exaggerated. And we need to do a good job, or a better job, I should say, educating on that.

because the numbers don't necessarily support that story. - Jason Robbins, DraftKings CEO. Thanks so much for joining us today. Appreciate it. - There are presentations. And then there are Canva presentations. With Canva, you can use AI to take your presentation to the next level. You can generate dynamic slides and text with a simple prompt. You can drag and drop graphics and charts from Canva's media library and add interactive elements to plus up your deck. And with collaboration tools built in, the whole team can work together better.

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