DraftKings has always argued that its business, a daily fantasy sports game where customers play to win cash prizes in exchange for cash entry fees, is a game a skill and not chance – the former being legal and the latter being illegal in the United States. However, for those who have been looking forward to it, the operator is now officially preparing to cross over to the other side with a new sports betting product that they hope to get off the ground by 2019. Hopefully, by that time the United States Supreme Court will have already delivered a ruling regarding the bill that intends to legalize sports betting in the country. From the looks of it, it is likely that the court will rule in favor of New Jersey and abolish the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA).
“We’re certainly going to go after it,” DraftKings CEO Jason Robins said in an interview. “I think the Supreme Court — I’m hopeful — will rule that way. You can’t really predict what the government will do, but you have to be prepared.”
“For me, it was always, ‘this is going to happen, it’s just [a matter of] when. We’ll be prepared,” he added.
By branching out from the full-slate, roster-drafting contests that made it the top spot for daily fantasy sports competition the company hopes to achieve the same level of success in the legal sports betting industry. In fact, it has already created a single-game contest which will allow DraftKings’ customers to participate in 2018’s NFL title game. By 2019, DraftKings hopes to have a curved up a solid reputation and attracted enough customer recognition that will be very helpful in securing a portion of the Super Bowl action.
The company will also keep running their daily fantasy sports platform which Robins says will continue to grow, and may even grow faster thus dispelling the need to constantly keep tabs on it. The company thinks that the new venture is just as important as the business they have been running all this while. While DraftKings has always distanced itself from sports betting in the past, it is quite clear that the opportunities that legal sports betting presents are just too enticing to be ignored especially considering the huge revenue potential of the market. After all, it’s business.
