Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This Annual Report on Form 10-K (this “Annual Report”) contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that reflect future plans, estimates, beliefs and expected performance. The forward-looking statements depend upon events, risks and uncertainties that may be outside of our control. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intends,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “will,” “would” and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. You are cautioned that our business and operations are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, and, consequently, our actual results may differ materially from those projected.
Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those identified below and those discussed in the section entitled “Risk Factors” included elsewhere in this Annual Report. Any statements contained herein that are not statements of historical fact may be forward-looking statements.
•factors relating to our business, operations and financial performance, including:
•our ability to effectively compete in the global entertainment and gaming industries;
•our ability to successfully acquire and integrate new operations;
•our ability to obtain and maintain licenses with gaming authorities;
•our inability to recognize deferred tax assets and tax loss carryforwards;
•market and global conditions and economic factors beyond our control, including the potential adverse effects of the global coronavirus (“COVID-19”) pandemic, as well as the potential impact of general economic conditions, including inflation and rising interest rates, on our liquidity, operations and personnel;
•significant competition and competitive pressures from other companies worldwide in the industries in which we operate;
•our ability to raise financing in the future;
•our success in retaining or recruiting officers, key employees or directors; and
•litigation and the ability to adequately protect our intellectual property rights.
Due to the uncertain nature of these factors, management cannot assess the impact of each factor on the business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements.
Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which such statement is made, and we undertake no obligation to update any of these statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this Annual Report, except as required by applicable law. New factors may emerge and it is not possible to predict all factors that may affect our business and prospects.
PART I
On May 5, 2022 (the “GNOG Closing Date”), DraftKings Inc. (formerly New Duke Holdco, Inc.) consummated the acquisition of Golden Nugget Online Gaming, Inc., a Delaware corporation (together with its subsidiaries unless the context requires otherwise, “GNOG”), pursuant to a definitive agreement and plan of merger, dated August 9, 2021 (the “GNOG Merger Agreement”), in an all-stock transaction (the “GNOG Transaction”). In connection with the GNOG Transaction, DraftKings Inc. undertook a holding company reorganization whereby DraftKings Inc. became the going-forward public company and the direct parent company of both DraftKings Holdings Inc. (formerly DraftKings Inc.), a Nevada corporation (“Old DraftKings”), and GNOG. DraftKings Inc. is the registrant filing this Annual Report on Form 10-K as the successor registrant for Old DraftKings. Unless otherwise indicated or the context otherwise requires, the terms “DraftKings”, the “Company”, “we”, “us” and “our” refer to DraftKings Inc. (or, in respect of periods prior to the GNOG Closing Date, Old DraftKings), together with its consolidated subsidiaries.
Item 1. Business.
Overview
We are a digital sports entertainment and gaming company. We provide users with online sports betting (“Sportsbook”), online casino (“iGaming”) and daily fantasy sports (“DFS”) product offerings, as well as DraftKings Marketplace (“Marketplace”), retail sportsbook, media and other consumer product offerings. We are also involved in the design and development of sports betting and casino gaming software for online and retail sportsbooks and iGaming operators. On May 5, 2022, we acquired GNOG in an all-stock transaction to enable us to leverage Golden Nugget’s established brand to broaden our reach into new customer segments and enhance the combined company’s iGaming product offering through our vertically-integrated technology stack and GNOG’s unique capabilities, including live dealer.
Our mission is to make life more exciting by responsibly creating the world’s favorite real-money games and betting experiences. We accomplish this by creating an environment where our users can find enjoyment and fulfillment through Sportsbook, iGaming, and DFS, as well as media and other online consumer product offerings. We are also highly focused on our responsibility as a steward of this new era in real-money gaming. Our ethics guide our decision making, with respect to both the tradition and integrity of sports and our investments in regulatory compliance and consumer protection.
We continue to make deliberate and substantial investments in support of our mission and long-term growth. For example, we have invested in our product offerings and technology in order to continuously launch new product innovations; improve marketing, merchandising, and operational efficiency through data science; and deliver a great user experience. We also make significant investments in sales and marketing and incentives to grow and retain our paid user base, including personalized cross-product offers and promotions, and promote brand awareness to attract the “skin-in-the-game” sports fan. Together, these investments have enabled us to create a leading product built on scalable technology, while attracting a user base that has resulted in the rapid growth of our business.
Our priorities are to (a) continue to invest in our product offerings, (b) launch our product offerings in new jurisdictions, (c) create replicable and predictable state-level unit economics in sports betting and iGaming and (d) expand our other online consumer product offerings. When we launch Sportsbook and iGaming product offerings in a new jurisdiction, we invest heavily in user acquisition, retention and cross-selling until the new jurisdiction provides a critical mass of users engaged across our product offerings.
Our current technology is highly scalable with relatively minimal incremental spend required to launch our product offerings in new jurisdictions. We will continue to manage our fixed-cost base in conjunction with our market entry plans and focus our variable spend on marketing, user experience and support and regulatory compliance to become the product of choice for users and to maintain favorable relationships with regulators. We also expect to improve our profitability over time as our revenue and gross profit expand as states mature, and our variable marketing expenses and fixed costs stabilize or grow at a slower rate.
Our path to profitability is based on the acceleration of positive contribution profit growth driven by increased revenue and gross profit generation from ongoing efficient customer acquisition enabled by the transition from local to regional to national advertising, strong customer retention, improved monetization from frequency and higher hold percentage, as well as scale benefits from investments in our product offerings and technology and general and administrative functions. On a consolidated Adjusted EBITDA basis, we expect to achieve profitability when total contribution profit exceeds the fixed costs of our
business, which depends, in part, on the percentage of the U.S. adult population that has access to our product offerings and the other factors summarized in the section entitled “Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements”.
During the fiscal years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020, we had revenue of $2,240.5 million, $1,296.0 million, and $614.5 million, respectively, average monthly unique payers (“MUPs”) of 1.9 million, 1.5 million, and 0.9 million, respectively, and average revenue per MUP (“ARPMUP”) of $96, $67, and $51, respectively. Refer to the section entitled “Key Performance Indicators” within Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations included herein for additional information regarding our MUPs and ARPMUP.
Business Combinations
Merger with Diamond Eagle Acquisition Corp. and Acquisition of SBTech (Global) Limited
We were incorporated in Nevada as DEAC NV Merger Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of our legal predecessor, Diamond Eagle Acquisition Corp. (“DEAC”), a special purpose acquisition company. On April 23, 2020, DEAC consummated the transactions contemplated by the Business Combination Agreement dated December 22, 2019, as amended on April 7, 2020, (the “DEAC Business Combination”) and, in connection therewith:
i.DEAC merged with and into Old DraftKings, whereby Old DraftKings survived the merger and became the successor issuer to DEAC;
ii.Old DraftKings changed its name to “DraftKings Inc.”;
iii.Old DraftKings acquired DK Crown Holdings Inc. (formerly DraftKings Inc.), a Delaware corporation (“DK DE”), by way of a merger;
iv.Old DraftKings acquired all of the issued and outstanding share capital of SBTech (Global) Limited (“SBTech” and, such acquisition, the “SBTech Acquisition”); and
v.DEAC’s publicly traded units (Nasdaq: DEACU) separated into their components of publicly traded DEAC Class A common stock (Nasdaq: DEAC) and DEAC public warrants (Nasdaq: DEACW), and each outstanding share of DEAC Class A common stock was exchanged, on a one-for-one basis, for shares of Old DraftKings’ Class A common stock and all of DEAC’s outstanding warrants became warrants to acquire shares of Old DraftKings’ Class A common stock.
Upon consummation of the DEAC Business Combination and the transactions contemplated thereby:
(i)DK DE and SBTech became wholly owned subsidiaries of Old DraftKings; and
(ii)beginning April 24, 2020 (the “SBTech Closing Date”), Old DraftKings’ shares of Class A common stock traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market (the “Nasdaq”) under the ticker symbol “DKNG”, and Old DraftKings’ warrants traded on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “DKNGW”. On July 7, 2020, Old DraftKings redeemed all of its outstanding public warrants that had not been exercised as of July 2, 2020, and, on July 20, 2020, Old DraftKings delisted its publicly traded warrants (the “Warrant Redemption”). Following the Warrant Redemption, only Old DraftKings’ Class A common stock continued to be traded on the Nasdaq.
Acquisition of Golden Nugget Online Gaming, Inc.
As further discussed in this Annual Report, on the GNOG Closing Date, Old DraftKings consummated the acquisition of GNOG, pursuant to the GNOG Merger Agreement. In connection with the GNOG Transaction, Old DraftKings undertook a holding company reorganization whereby a new holding company, New Duke Holdco, Inc., a Nevada corporation (“New DraftKings”), became the going-forward public company and the direct parent company of both Old DraftKings and GNOG. New DraftKings was renamed “DraftKings Inc.” on the GNOG Closing Date.
Our Product Offerings
Our revenues are predominantly generated through our three online gaming product offerings — Sportsbook, iGaming, and DFS. For Sportsbook and iGaming, we operate under both our DraftKings brand and our GNOG brand. We consider these three product offerings to be of a similar product class, and together they accounted for 94.0%, 88.4%, and 84.2% of DraftKings’