Earnings Extra: DraftKings

Best Super Bowl ever gives investors succor

The TL;DR edit

Starting afresh: A rebound in hold rates since the start of the year and a record Super Bowl handle of $436m helped DraftKings put a forgettable Q4 – at least as far as sports-betting hold was concerned – behind it.

• With SGPs increasing 40% YoY, the company enjoyed the highest sportsbook single-day GGR in its history on the day of the game.

• Still, Q4 saw $104m of hold headwinds in December meaning total adj. EBITDA for 2024 came in at $181m vs. the reduced guidance of $240m-$280m communicated in November.

• Disciplinarian: With revenue rising at 30% but sales and marketing costs only growing at 5%, CEO Jason Robins said this was an example of how the company could “exert discipline” across the business.

• He said the company would “prioritize” capital returns to shareholders.

• 👀 Asked about the current noise around prediction markets, he noted this was an area the company was “watching very actively.”