DraftKings Inc has posted its Q2 financials for the period ended June 30, 2021, revealing a heavy – but better than anticipated – net loss of $305.5m, despite a surge in revenue during the quarter to $298m versus $71m year-on-year.
After giving pro forma effect to the business combination with SBTech and Diamond Eagle Acquisition Corp, which was completed on April 23, 2020, as if it had occurred on January 1, 2019, revenue grew 297% compared to the three months ended June 30, 2020.
Jason Robins, Co-founder, CEO and Chairman of the Board, told investors: “DraftKings had a particularly strong second quarter of 2021, maintaining our impressive financial performance while also advancing into new areas, such as media and NFTs.
“We believe these expansion opportunities will enable us to further grow our customer base and generate additional revenues through cross-selling to our existing players. We also are excited that the migration to our proprietary in-house online sports betting technology is substantially complete, with only one state remaining pending approval.”
CFO Jason Park added: “We delivered strong growth in new customers and revenue. Our $298m in second quarter revenue represents a 297% increase year-over-year. Additionally, we grew Monthly Unique Payers by 281% and Average Revenue Per Monthly Unique Payer by 26%. We are again raising our revenue outlook for 2021 as we continue to expect robust growth in the states where we are currently live today.”
Citing strong customer retention and acquisition as drivers of Q2 growth, the company noted that Monthly Unique Payers (MUPs) for its B2C segment increased 281% year-on-year. On average, 1.1 million monthly unique paying customers engaged with DraftKings during each month of the second quarter.
Average Revenue per MUP (ARPMUP) was $80 in the second quarter of 2021 representing a 26% increase versus the same period in 2020. The firm noted: “Our ARPMUP was positively impacted by the return to a more normal sports schedule, which resulted in stronger and more consistent customer engagement across our DFS and sportsbook product offerings.
“The launch of our sportsbook and igaming product offerings in additional states also positively impacted our product mix. We also continued to drive engagement across our B2C product offerings as we cross sell our users into more products.”
Investors have also been advised that DraftKings is raising its fiscal year 2021 revenue guidance from a range of $1.05bn to $1.15bn to a range of $1.21bn to $1.29bn, which equates to year-on-year growth of 88% to 100% and a 14% increase compared to the midpoint of its previous guidance.
The increase, it said, reflects strong performance in the second quarter of 2021 and continued user retention, engagement and acquisition due to the effectiveness of marketing spend.
DraftKings is currently live with online sports betting in 12 states that collectively represent 25% of the US population and live with igaming in four states, representing approximately 10% of the population.
The firm’s stock jumped 3.5% premarket following news of the better-than-expected quarterly profit and revenue, and the upward revision of its revenue forecast for the full year.