MW DraftKings says lack of March Madness upsets kept it from raising its forecast, but shares rally

By Bill Peters

Bettor-friendly NCAA basketball tournament 'more than offset' a 'favorable' Super Bowl, company says

Sports-betting platform DraftKings Inc. reported a narrower-than-expected loss for the first quarter, but said that "customer-friendly sport outcomes in March" - that is, people winning bets - kept it from raising its full-year sales outlook.

Still, shares were up 1.9% after hours.

DraftKings' (DKNG) results came as Wall Street looks for signs that betting appetites are intact despite the shudders the U.S.-led trade war has sent through the economy. They also follow big sports-betting events - like the Super Bowl, which analysts said sportsbooks may have benefited from given the underdog Philadelphia Eagles' victory, and an NCAA men's basketball tournament overall that was dominated by favorites.

That March Madness tournament, DraftKings said in a letter to shareholders, "more than offset" a "favorable" Super Bowl.

The company lost 7 cents a share during the first quarter. That was a bit narrower than the 8 cents that analysts expected.

DraftKings reported revenue of $1.41 billion, a 20% jump from the prior-year quarter. That was slightly below the $1.43 billion forecast by FactSet, but the company said more consumers bet on the site and that it held onto a bigger share of overall dollars bet. The betting platform said last year's acquisition of Jackpocket, a lottery app, also helped.

Jason Robins, DraftKings' chief executive, said that efforts to improve the platform overall helped results, and that consumer metrics were still strong despite an "evolving macroeconomic environment."

However, he said the gambling landscape in March kept it from boosting its full-year outlook.

"If not for customer-friendly sport outcomes in March, we would be raising our fiscal-year 2025 revenue and adjusted Ebitda guidance," he said, referring to adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.

For fiscal 2025, DraftKings said it expects revenue of $6.2 billion to $6.4 billion. That was down from a prior outlook of $6.3 billion to $6.6 billion. However, BofA analysts, in a note last month, said investors had already factored in "headwinds" from March Madness.

The company also said it was "well-positioned" for the current economic backdrop.

"Online gaming was resilient in more mature jurisdictions globally during the global financial crisis, and today our customer metrics such as deposits, session engagement time, active days, bet frequency and bet size, among others, continue to be strong and consistent with forecasted trends," executives said in DraftKings' shareholder letter.

"We are also beginning to realize efficiency as broader corporate demand softens in areas such as advertising," they said.

Shares of DraftKings are down 19.7% over the past 12 months, and down around 5% so far this year.

-Bill Peters

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May 08, 2025 17:44 ET (21:44 GMT)

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