Last year, DraftKings Casino launched its newest online casino product for punters in New Jersey- progressive jackpots. First launched exclusively to online gamblers in the Garden State, adding progressive jackpots to its list of products effectively made DraftKings the first online gaming operator in North America to deliver cross-gaming genre-linked progressive jackpots.
This spirit of innovation and the drive to constantly add new products exclusive to DraftKings customers is largely what has allowed the brand to maintain its huge market share. According to the American gambling Association, DraftKings controls approximately 20% of the iGaming market in the country.
Within the first 14 days of debuting progressive jackpots for its iGaming customers in New Jersey, several customers have taken home massive jackpot winnings. For instance, a DraftKings customer took home $313,445 during the brand’s inaugural progressive jackpot. DraftKings customers have the option to opt-in and keep making extra bets on jackpot-qualified games such as roulette, and blackjack and slot titles such as 88 Fortunes.
DraftKings’ progressive jackpots stand out owing to their ability to span numerous online casino games. Like all progressive jackpots, the payout increases whenever the main jackpot goes uncollected. In general, slot games are the most popular choice for jackpot bonuses although these perks are also available on table games like Single-Hand Blackjack, DraftKings Blackjack, as well as DraftKings Roulette.
To cater to poker lovers, Ultimate X Poker on DraftKings is also jackpot-enabled. So far, progressive jackpots are only available to customers in New Jersey. However, DraftKings is expected to start introducing new products to DraftKings customers in other states.
With progressive jackpots on the lineup, DraftKings continues to set itself apart in the crowded online casino gaming market in the country. DraftKings has emerged as one of the biggest winners of legal iGaming in the country. This year during March Madness, the American Gaming Association estimates that at least $15 billion will be wagered on the 2023 March Madness Tournament.
This estimate is an incredible 5 times higher than what was wagered on March Madness last year. On the heels of the recently concluded Super Bowl, the gambling industry in the country has never been hotter. Thus far, DraftKings has emerged as king in this sports betting boom.
According to DraftKings, its revenue soared by more than 70% in 2022, which made it the country’s leading sports wagering operator. Legal sports gambling is allowed in 33 states, as well as the District of Colombia. This means that the brand still has an opportunity in the future to introduce its products in 11 additional states.
Although the regulation process hasn’t been easy by any means, odds are that DraftKings will be among the first operators to expand into some of these markets when the time comes. Sports betting is also allowed but isn’t operational in 3 more states and there is active legislation and lobbying to see it legalized in 8 more.
California, Georgia, Alaska, Idaho, Alabama, and Utah remain the only states that have not initiated the legislation process to regulate their sports betting markets. DraftKings is also one of the few brands that operate in 8 states that offer legal online gaming thanks to its Golden Nugget Online Gaming brands.
With DraftKings enjoying a presence in almost all the states with legal online and sports betting, its brand presence is already established. This year, as iGaming is permitted in even more states and the brand introduces products from its in-house studio, it will have progressive jackpots to complement its already popular sportsbook and fantasy products.
What we cover
Impressive Fourth Quarter Revenue of $855 Million
Just recently, DraftKings announced its Q4 and 2022 fiscal year results. For the 3 months ending December 31st, 2022, DraftKings recorded revenue of $855 million. This was a massive increase of more than 80% compared to the same period in 2021. DraftKings continued growth was driven by most of the factors mentioned above including innovation, customer retention strategies, as well as launching in newly legalized iGaming states.
Moving into the 2023 fiscal year, the DraftKings brand intends to continue to drive revenue growth, as well as concentrate on expense management so that its adjusted EBITDA growth can keep growing. Thanks to product innovations such as the newly introduced progressive jackpots, DraftKings’ sportsbook hold was unrivaled until recently.
This year, the stakes will be much higher as all the top sportsbook operators continue to work hard to attain profitability. FanDuel, which has traditionally been DraftKings biggest rival, announced that it had swung to profitability in Q3 2022. This made it the first sportsbook in the country to record a turnover in a single quarter.
Two other sportsbook operators namely Penn Entertainment’s Barstool Sports and BetMGM have already predicted that they will reach profitability by Q2 this year. When DraftKings reported an 81% Q4 growth not too long ago it effectively raised the brand’s 2023 revenue forecast to $2.95 billion.
Plus, DraftKings also recently bagged a license from the Massachusetts Gaming Board allowing it to debut its services and products in the state. This means that even more punters will soon start enjoying DraftKings’ extensive portfolio, which should guarantee continued growth.
DraftKings is now live with its mobile sports betting product in a total of 20 states. This combined represents 42% of the population in the country now that the brand is present in both Maryland and Ohio. Additional jurisdictions in Massachusetts and Puerto Rico also recently legalized their mobile sports betting markets, where DraftKings expect to start operating pending regulatory approvals.
Final Thoughts
Over the last 10 years, the DraftKings brand has grown dramatically and new features such as progressive jackpots are helping to ensure continued growth. Today, DraftKings’ biggest offerings include a thriving online casino, one of the best-reviewed online sportsbooks, and an established daily fantasy sports platform.
With its neatly designed user interface and a wide array of casino games, not to mention the frequent promotions, DraftKings will likely continue dominating the iGaming market. DraftKings’ biggest competitors include top names in the sports betting market such as FanDuel, BetRivers, Caesars Casino, and BetMGM.
