The history of DraftKings’ pivot from daily fantasy to sportsbook

The daily fantasy foundation

Jason Robins, Matthew Kalish, and Paul Liberman established DraftKings in 2012. The company launched its first one-on-one baseball competition during the 2012 Major League Baseball opening day. In April 2013, Major League Baseball invested in the platform. By 2014, DraftKings awarded 50 million dollars in prizes to players in weekly fantasy football, daily fantasy baseball, daily fantasy basketball, and daily fantasy hockey. The company reported 50,000 active daily users and one million registered players in 2014. In July 2014, the acquisition of DraftStreet increased the user base by 50 percent. DraftKings also acquired the assets of StarStreet in August 2014 after receiving 41 million dollars in funding from investors including the Raine Group, Redpoint Ventures, GGV Capital, and Accomplice. In November 2014, DraftKings reached a two-year deal to become the official daily fantasy sports service of the National Hockey League, which included video feature sponsorships, co-branded free games, and in-venue ad placements during marquee NHL events. The company received 304 million dollars in users’ entry fees in 2014. In April 2015, DraftKings reached a deal with Major League Baseball to offer co-branded daily fantasy games and in-stadium experiences. In July 2015, DraftKings entered a three-year advertising deal with ESPN Inc. valued at 250 million dollars. This deal provided the company with advertising exclusivity on ESPN networks beginning in 2016. In July 2015, Fox Sports, the Kraft Group, and Wellington Management led a 300 million dollar funding round. In August 2015, DraftKings hired Jeffrey Haas, a veteran of the online poker industry, to serve as Chief International Officer. In February 2016, the company launched in the UK with daily fantasy soccer and enhanced soccer handling to appeal to the local audience.

The company expanded.

Regulatory hurdles and the sportsbook shift

Legal issues hit in 2015.

The 2015 data leak exposed significant integrity flaws when an employee inadvertently released data before the third week of NFL games in October 2015. That employee won 350,000 dollars on FanDuel the same week. The New York Attorney General opened an inquiry into DraftKings and FanDuel the following day. Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden banned the company from his state in May 2016. The 2017 Federal Trade Commission block of the DraftKings and FanDuel merger occurred because the agency determined the combined company would control 90 percent of the US daily fantasy sports market. DraftKings and FanDuel paid 1.3 million dollars each to settle with the Massachusetts Attorney General in September 2017 over allegations of unfair practices. DraftKings successfully transitioned from fantasy contests to a massive sportsbook entity. In August 2018, DraftKings launched its first legal online sportsbook in New Jersey after the Supreme Court declared the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act unconstitutional.

Financial growth and market presence

DraftKings reached profitability.

The company completed a 3.3 billion dollar reverse merger in April 2020 involving Diamond Eagle Acquisition Corp. and SBTech Global Ltd. to become a publicly traded company under the ticker symbol DKNG. In 2025, DraftKings reported 6 billion dollars in revenue, a 26.9 percent increase from 2024. This revenue came mostly from its sportsbook service. The company achieved its first year of annualized net income in 2025 with a 3.7 million dollar profit. DraftKings holds 34 percent of the US sportsbook market share in September 2026. You know FanDuel maintains the lead with 38 percent market share. Michael Jordan joined as an investor and board advisor in September 2020. The company acquired the Vegas Stats & Information Network in March 2021 and Golden Nugget Online Gaming in May 2022. In February 2024, the company acquired the lottery courier app Jackpocket for 750 million dollars. In 2021, DraftKings agreed to pay at least 50 million dollars over three years to distribute a podcast hosted by Dan Le Batard. Will Missouri’s December 2025 launch trigger a wider trend? In December 2025, DraftKings launched DraftKings Predictions, a platform for users to trade contracts tied to sporting event outcomes.