DraftKings Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder, Jason Robins, took part in a fireside chat at The Craig-Hallum Online Gaming Conference.
During this virtual event, he discussed various topics, including the possibility of increased iGaming legislation being passed in 2025. He addressed the initial challenges of entering the market and the skepticism faced from those who doubted that online sports betting would gain traction in the United States as it has in the United Kingdom.
“In the first few years in the market, I would always hear that betting in the UK is part of the culture, and it will never be like that here. I always thought to myself, ‘I just don’t buy that.’ The U.S. leads almost every single entertainment spend per capita in the world, and I didn’t think this would be any different. We always viewed the UK as, at least, the floor.”
Robins said the U.S. will probably end up being comparatively larger on a per capita standpoint, but how big, or how much bigger remains to be seen.
DraftKings’ Early Days Weren’t Perfect
The U.S. had the advantage of starting later, which meant better products and more developed technologies to work with. In fact, mobile sports betting in England didn’t happen for about 10 years after the online market launched.
But when DraftKings started, a lot of this technology already existed. Robins said being a U.S. based company may have helped establish his company in the United States because they had a customer base and brand. But he said that when they were first starting out, DraftKings had to catch up in some critical areas.
“Initially, we were behind when it came to product and technology. But after acquiring SB Tech and working on it over the years, we have become a premier place in the market when it comes to our product and technology capabilities,” he said. “And I think over time it will become more of an advantage because the things we were initially behind on, we were able to rapidly close the gap, and in some cases, get out ahead of the vast majority of our competitors.”
The Sports Betting Operator Craves Competition
And speaking of the competition, he says his team is always being asked about the next wave of competitors, but Robins actually likes the pressure because it keeps him on his toes.
“I kinda like it. I think it’s important to always have new, aggressive competition in the market. It keeps the team and keeps everybody focused on winning with the customer and it keeps that edge. We’ve always been a company (for better or worse) that has done better when we feel some sort of pressure.”
Robins Expects Online Casino Legislature To Pick Up Steam
Robins also thinks there are big things to come for his company in the new year. “I think 2025 is going to be a huge growth year. 2024 was an election year, so it’s hard to get gaming bills done in an election year. But I think this year (2025) we are going to (potentially) get some iGaming bills over the hump.”
