- DraftKings’ sports net revenue margin fell to 6.8% in the second quarter from 8.7% a year earlier.
- Sports consumer volume rose 15% to $13.1 billion while sports revenue fell 10.6% to $891.9 million.
- Adjusted EBITDA fell to $114.6 million from $300.6 million and the company posted a $67.6 million net loss.
- DraftKings reiterated full-year guidance of $6.5 billion to $6.9 billion in revenue.
BOSTON – DraftKings’ hold on sports bets fell to 6.8% in the second quarter from 8.7% a year earlier, turning a 15% increase in betting volume into a 10.6% drop in sports revenue, the operator reported Aug. 6.
Volume Grew, The Share The Book Kept Did Not
Sports consumer volume reached $13.1 billion in the quarter, up $1.7 billion from $11.5 billion a year earlier. Sports revenue on that volume was $891.9 million, down $106.0 million, or 10.6%.
Total revenue fell to $1.44 billion from $1.51 billion in the second quarter of 2025, a decline of $69.3 million, or 4.6%, DraftKings reported.
A 1.9-Point Margin Drop Cost About $251 Million
A sportsbook does not earn the handle. It earns the share of the handle left after winning bets are paid and promotional credits are booked against revenue. DraftKings reports that share as sports net revenue margin, defined in the release as sports revenue as a percentage of sports consumer volume.
At the 8.7% margin the company posted a year earlier, $13.1 billion of volume would have produced roughly $1.14 billion in sports revenue. It produced $891.9 million. The 1.9-point gap is worth about $251 million, and it is the entire distance between a growing quarter and a shrinking one.
The release attributes the decline to “customer-friendly sport outcomes and increased promotional reinvestment associated with new customer acquisition on our Sportsbook and Predictions offerings.” Customer-friendly is the operator’s term for the public collecting.
The quarter also contained a championship settlement. The New York Knicks ended a 53-year title drought on June 13, closing out the San Antonio Spurs 4-1 by rallying from 16 down in Game 5. Futures tickets on a title winner are written months in advance and settle at once, so a championship result reaches a book’s margin in a single month rather than across a season.
Players Rose 9% While Revenue Per Player Fell 13%
Monthly unique players averaged 3.6 million, up about 9% year over year. The average the company earned per player each month came to $132, a drop of about $19, or 13%.
Revenue per player falls when revenue drops while the player count rises, which is what the second quarter produced. Demand for online sports betting did not weaken in the quarter; what fell was the share the book kept on it.
Earnings Swung To A Loss And Guidance Held
Adjusted EBITDA was $114.6 million, against $300.6 million a year earlier. The company recorded a net loss of $67.6 million, compared with net income of $157.9 million in the second quarter of 2025. Diluted loss per share was $0.14, against diluted earnings of $0.30 a year earlier. Adjusted diluted earnings per share were $0.09, against $0.38.
DraftKings left full-year 2026 guidance unchanged at $6.5 billion to $6.9 billion in revenue and $700 million to $900 million in adjusted EBITDA.
“We delivered a strong second quarter and enter the back half of the year with real momentum, as our core business grew across handle, users, and engagement,” Chief Executive Jason Robins said in the release. “Our Super App is now live nationwide, and Predictions is already growing faster than we anticipated.”
Predictions is the DraftKings event-contract product, launched into a category opened by the standalone prediction market apps. The release names promotional spending on both the sportsbook and Predictions as the second of its two drivers for the decline.
Robins said the company is confident it can win the predictions category this NFL season and beyond. The second half carries that season, the highest-volume stretch of the year for US sportsbooks, and the reiterated full-year guidance now rests on it.
