DraftKings Posts $21.1 Million Q1 Profit After Prior Year Loss

DraftKings opened 2026 with a stronger first quarter than Wall Street expected, helped by better sportsbook margins, tighter customer acquisition, and early traction from its Super App plan.

Good to Know

• DraftKings revenue rose 17% year over year to $1.65 billion.
• Net profit reached $21.1 million after a $33.9 million loss a year earlier.
• April prediction market customer acquisition costs fell by more than 80%.

DraftKings Uses Q1 Beat To Lean Harder Into Prediction Markets

DraftKings gave investors two stories in one quarter. The core sportsbook and iGaming business kept growing, while prediction markets started to look less costly to build than expected.

For the quarter ended March 31, DraftKings reported $1.65 billion in revenue, up about 17% from last year. Net profit reached $21.1 million, compared with a $33.9 million loss in the prior year period. Adjusted EBITDA increased to $167.9 million from $102.6 million, and adjusted earnings came in at $0.20 per share, ahead of the $0.17 expected by Wall Street.

CEO Jason Robins said:

“We are off to a fantastic start to the year as our first-quarter results exceeded our expectations,”

Sportsbook results carried much of the quarter. Revenue from that segment increased 24.1% to $1.09 billion, even though betting handle grew only 1.5% to $14.08 billion. The sportsbook margin improved to 7.8%, up from 6.4% a year earlier.

iGaming added another steady layer. Revenue from online casino products rose 8.9% to $461.3 million, equal to nearly 28% of total group revenue.

Customer numbers looked weaker at first glance, but DraftKings tied that drop to its exit from the Texas lottery market. Monthly unique paying customers fell 4% to 4.2 million. Without that impact, the figure increased 2%. Average revenue per monthly unique payer also improved, helped by retention and new users across sportsbook and iGaming.

DraftKings kept its 2026 guidance unchanged. The operator still expects revenue of $6.5 billion to $6.9 billion and adjusted EBITDA of $700 million to $900 million.

The newer part of the story sits inside the DraftKings Super App. The product combines sportsbook, iGaming, and DraftKings Predictions in one mobile platform. In April, prediction market customer acquisition costs fell by more than 80%, according to the company.

Robins said:

“Our core business is strong, and profitability is inflecting. That gives us the firepower to press our advantage in Predictions,” said Robins. “With our Super App, market-making capabilities, proprietary exchange, and combos coming together, we intend to establish a leadership position in Sports Predictions before year-end.”

Prediction market volume also climbed. Annualized consumer volume topped $1 billion in April, while annualized total traded volume passed $2.3 billion. Those figures rose 38% and 43% month over month, respectively.

DraftKings also said 69% of prediction market trading volume now comes from states where legal sports betting does not operate. That gives the Boston-based operator a separate path into users who cannot access standard online sports betting.

CFO Alan Ellingson said:

“The business continues to scale efficiently as we grow revenue, expand profitability, and invest in high-return opportunities.”

DraftKings also restated longer-term targets from investor day, including a possible $55 billion to $80 billion gross revenue opportunity by 2030 and at least a 30% long-term adjusted EBITDA margin.