There's a new top dog in US online gambling.
DraftKings edged out rival FanDuel for the largest portion of online gambling market share in the US, according to a Wednesday report from the market research firm Eilers & Krejcik Gaming.
DraftKings had amassed about 31% of online gambling gross gaming revenue in the third quarter through August 23, while FanDuel's market-share lead had dipped to 30%. That's across online sports betting and casino gaming.
Gross gaming revenue, or GGR, is a key industry metric that shows the amount wagered minus the amount paid out to winners.
DraftKings' ascent comes after the company completed in May 2022 its acquisition of the online casino company Golden Nugget Online Gaming, which helped drive its recent growth spurt.
Before the Golden Nugget deal, DraftKings had briefly dipped below BetMGM in the race for market share with roughly 20% share, according to Eilers & Krejcik Gaming. But DraftKings' share has steadily grown steadily since, per the report.
The firm wrote in a newsletter on Thursday that the trend has been "seemingly continuing into September from states that have reported data so far."
FanDuel, meanwhile, has fallen from a Q1 2023 peak of 37% online gambling share. The Flutter-owned company still leads in US online sports betting.
The battle for market share among sportsbooks has been a key topic of conversation in the industry as of late, particularly due to Penn Entertainment's ambitious goal to grab double-digit market share with ESPN Bet and Fanatics' entry into the marketplace.
DraftKings and FanDuel have long dominated the industry despite competition from the likes of BetMGM, Caesars Entertainment, and many others — and only furthered their leads in the past year.
That could change with the new competition this fall, as well as with "the sleeping giant" in Bet365 continuing to make its US expansion.
Other trends may have helped DraftKings overtake FanDuel, the report said, such as marketing pullbacks from No. 3 and No. 4 market-share leaders BetMGM and Caesars Entertainment that eased the competitive environment for a time.
Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, which does consumer research on gambling apps, also found that DraftKings had improved its product and online sports betting hold — which is the amount of money sportsbooks keep for every dollar wagered — as well as its operational execution, "allowing it to capture more value on a per-customer basis," according to the report.
DraftKings' stock is up 116% year over year, after largely managing to rein in customer-acquisition spending and prioritize earnings targets due to pressure from Wall Street.
