DraftKings CEO Jason Robins said during the company’s 2025 Q1 earnings call Friday that the platform has become a hub for live betting.
Robins said that live betting accounted for more than half of DraftKings’ total betting handle during Q1 2025, the first time that has ever happened.
Key Takeaways
- Robins said in February the company was going to focus on developing live betting.
- Mature markets, like those in Europe, have seen live betting produce 70-80% of operators’ gross gaming revenue.
- DraftKings reported $1.4 billion in Q1 revenue, a 20% year-over-year increase.
DraftKings, alongside FanDuel, is one of the top online sports betting operators in America. Its long served a wide array of audiences, but its growth in the live betting scene has been a transformational development.
“Some of the investments … like (microbetting supplier) Simplebet … have really helped us accelerate our live betting options,” Robins said during the call. “So that’s been a big part of the story of what’s driving our handle up, and I do think we’ve gained some share.”
DraftKings’ MLB live betting handle was up 36% year-over-year in April. It's the first time Robins has seen the development of the live betting markets into what he and the company envisioned.
The recent growth has DraftKings excited about what its live betting offerings can become down the line. Drawing on results from operators in more established markets, Robins said that live betting can produce as much as 70-80% of gross gaming revenue.
“I’m pretty pumped about where we’re at from a product perspective,” he said.
A shift in focus
DraftKings’ approach to live betting has been a holistic approach from the development of their offerings to their marketing approach.
One commercial, featuring Kevin Hart, includes a pop-up that calls DraftKings “The No. 1 Sportsbook for Live Betting” and repeatedly alludes to Hart engaging in live betting.
A narrator also claims that DraftKings has the “most markets to bet live.”
“It’s a product that we worked hard on,” Robins said on the call. “I’m really excited about our baseball product as well as our golf … we have great updates that are coming through this summer as well.”
Growing the bottom line
Back in February, Robins said during a 2024 Q4 earnings call that DraftKings was shifting its focus to live betting to increase its structural sports betting hold.
The company found success with micro-bets such as if a basketball player will make or miss their next shot, or if a pitcher will throw a ball or a strike, leading to its eventual acquisition of live betting provider Simplebet in 2024.
Live betting options are often more profitable for sportsbooks since they can implement a larger vig, giving bettors a narrower margin of victory.
DraftKings is already off to a strong start in 2025. It reported a record-setting day of $436 million in bets during Super Bowl LIX and $1.4 billion in Q1 revenue, 20% more than it did year-over-year, despite the lack of March Madness upsets limiting its growth potential.
Robins said the company expected $6.2-6.4 billion in revenue by the end of the fiscal year.
