DraftKings Q1 Earnings Highlights: Revenue Beat, Raised Guidance, New NFTs And More

Sports betting and online gaming company DraftKings Inc DKNG reported first-quarter financial results Friday before the market open. Here are the key highlights and why shares are trading higher.

What Happened: DraftKings reported first-quarter revenue of $417 million, up 34% year-over-year and ahead of a consensus $414.4 million estimate, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

“DraftKings delivered significant growth across our key revenue and performance metrics,” DraftKings CEO Jason Robins said. “We are not seeing any impact from inflationary pressures on customer demand.”

Monthly unique players hit 2 million in the first quarter, up 29% year-over-year. The increase was led by strong retention and acquisition from expansion in new states, according to the company. Average revenue per monthly unique player was $67, up 11% year-over-year.

In the first quarter, DraftKings launched in New York and Louisiana, which brings the company’s total operations to 17 states for mobile sports betting. DraftKings is also live for its online gaming business in five states. The company covers 36% and 11% of the U.S. population for sports betting and online gaming, respectively.

DraftKings continued its expansion in the non-fungible token space in the first quarter with the launch of NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament-themed NFTs in its Primetime NFT series. The NFTs were built in-house and included bonuses in the form of DraftKings credits. The company intends to launch additional NFTs centered on “significant moments throughout the sports calendar.”

Related Link: DraftKings CEO Jason Robins Has A Warning For Those Selling The Stock 

What’s Next: DraftKings raised its guidance for fiscal 2022. The company now sees full-year revenue coming in a range of $1.925 billion to $2.025 billion, versus a previous range of $1.85 billion to $2 billion. Analysts were expecting the company to have full-year revenue of $1.98 billion, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

The company also raised its full-year adjusted EBITDA guidance with the new estimate being a range of a loss of $760 million to a loss of $840 million.

DraftKings’ updated guidance does not include the acquisition of Golden Nugget Online Gaming, which closed on Thursday, or the expected launch of DraftKings in Ontario in the second quarter.

The company expects to see revenue of $130 million to $150 million from the acquisition and Ontario entry, which could boost guidance later on in the year.

“We are also improving our efficiency in acquiring and retaining customers and have a strong pipeline of new jurisdictions to enter,” Robins said.

The company highlighted Maryland, Puerto Rico and Ohio, three territories that have authorized mobile sports betting and DraftKings has market access agreements or direct licenses. The company also singled out the progress being made to move towards legalizing sports betting in California.

DraftKings launched a new NFT series called Membership NFTs that center on several leading young stars from Major League Baseball including Vladimir Guerrero, Shane Bieber, Wander Franco and Fernando Tatis Jr.

DKNG Price Action: DraftKings shares are up 6% to $15.31 Friday versus a 52-week range of $13.05 to $64.58.