DraftKings CEO Jason Robins believes the US sports betting market could be worth tens of billions of dollars – with one reservation. It needs to get wide acceptance throughout the nation.
Robins, who heads New Jersey’s biggest sports gaming operation, made this observation in a recent television interview with Bloomberg. He was discussing the potential of an industry currently operating in less than 10 states.
Nevada, where sportsbooks have been legal for many years, is the current leader. However, New Jersey is chasing hard and catching up fast – and this after only nine months in the sportsbook industry. It can already boast that its 13 online sportsbooks had pulled in a billion dollars in handle.
NJ led the court battle that saw the Supreme Court cancel the law prohibiting sports betting in May 2018. It was also the first state to initiate sports betting when it became legal. And, yes, DraftKings, already a giant of the nationwide fantasy sports industry, was NJ’s first sportsbook to take a bet.
After months of see-sawing with fellow Fantasy sport giant, FanDuel, DraftKings is once more the NJ sportsbook market leader. This implies correctly that Robins is a man who knows what he is talking about and is worth a listen.
It all depends on how many states join the sportsbook industry
On the subject of the growth of sports wagering in the US, Robins continued by saying: “It really depends on how many states do it. Obviously, the more states that do, the more the market will grow.
“All in though, we think this is a market that’s worth tens of billions of dollars: Hundreds of billions in handle and tens of billions in revenue. That’s assuming that a good chunk of our states end up legalizing sports betting.”
Robins is more than happy DraftKings are the NJ sportsbook pack leaders right now and says he welcomes strong competition.
“We love it, he said. “Competition is what gets everybody up in the morning. It’s like sports – if you’ve got nobody on the other side of the field, why even bother showing up.
“So for us, it’s really about making sure that we always stay at the top of our game. It’s about being innovative and responding to our customers. If we do that we think we’ll stack up well against the competition.”
When pushed by his TV interviewer to say why DraftKings are where they are, Robins said: “Well firstly we are a tech company. A lot of our competitors are basically hotel and hospitality businesses that have launched online operations. They’ll still be fierce competitors and do a great job, but the online thing is core to our DNA.”
He added: “We also have a huge database (in users) and a brand already (high) in the sports space. Also, people already identify and think of us as a place to go to bet on sports and that’s a major advantage.
