Item 1A. Risk Factors.
Our business is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that you should be aware of in evaluating our business. If any such risks and uncertainties actually occur, our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. The risks described below are not the only risks that we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not currently known to us, or that we currently deem to be immaterial, may also materially adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations. The risk factors described below should be read together with the other information set forth in this Annual Report, including our consolidated financial statements and the related notes, as well as in other documents that we file with the SEC.
Summary of Material Risk Factors
Our business is subject to a number of risks, which are discussed more fully below and include, but are not limited to, the following:
• There is significant competition within the global entertainment and gaming industries, and our existing and potential users may be attracted to competing forms of entertainment such as television, movies and sporting events, as well as other entertainment and gaming options on the internet. If our product offerings do not continue to be popular, our business could be harmed.
• Reductions in discretionary consumer spending could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
• Our projections are subject to significant risks, assumptions, estimates and uncertainties, including assumptions regarding future legislation and changes in regulations, both inside and outside of the United States. As a result, our projected revenues, market share, expenses and profitability may differ materially from our expectations.
• The success, including win or hold rates, of existing or future sports betting and iGaming product offerings depends on a variety of factors, including sport outcomes, and is not completely controlled by us.
• We rely on information technology and other systems and services, and any failures, errors, defects or disruptions in our systems or services could diminish our brand and reputation, subject us to liability, disrupt our business, affect our ability to scale our technical infrastructure and adversely affect our operating results and growth prospects. Our games and other software applications and systems, and the third-party platforms upon which they are made available, could contain undetected errors.
• Despite our security measures, our information technology systems and infrastructure are vulnerable to cybersecurity incidents arising from attacks by hackers or breaches due to employee error, malfeasance or other disruptions. Any such cybersecurity incident could compromise our networks and the information stored there could be accessed, publicly disclosed, lost or stolen, which could damage our reputation, cause a loss of confidence in our product offerings or services or otherwise adversely affect our business.
• We rely on strategic relationships with casinos, tribes and horse-tracks in order to be able to offer our Sportsbook and iGaming product offerings in certain jurisdictions. If we cannot establish and manage such relationships with such partners, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.
• Our business model depends upon the continued compatibility between our apps and the major mobile operating systems and upon third-party platforms for the distribution of our product offerings. If Google Play or the Apple App Store prevent users from downloading our apps or augment the restrictions on advertising to our users, our ability to grow our revenue, profitability and prospects may be adversely affected.
• We may invest in or acquire other businesses, and our business may suffer if we are unable to successfully integrate acquired businesses into our Company or otherwise manage the growth and complexity associated with multiple acquisitions.
• Our business is subject to a variety of U.S. and foreign laws, many of which are unsettled and still developing and which could subject us to claims or otherwise harm our business. Any change in existing regulations or their interpretation, or the regulatory climate applicable to our product offerings and services, or changes in tax rules and regulations or interpretation thereof related to our product offerings and services, could adversely impact our ability to operate our business as currently conducted or as we seek to operate in the future, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
• Our growth prospects depend on the legal status of real-money gaming in various jurisdictions, predominantly within the United States, and legalization may not occur in as many jurisdictions as we expect, or may occur at a slower pace than we anticipate. Additionally, even if jurisdictions legalize real-money gaming, this may be accompanied by legislative or regulatory restrictions and/or taxes that make it impracticable or less attractive to operate in those jurisdictions, the process of implementing regulations or securing the necessary licenses to operate in a particular jurisdiction may take longer than we anticipate, or existing laws or regulations may be changed or interpreted adversely, any of which could adversely affect our future results of operations and make it more difficult to meet our expectations for financial performance.
• Our growth prospects and market potential depend on our ability to obtain licenses to operate in a number of jurisdictions, and if we fail to obtain and subsequently maintain such licenses, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be impaired.
• We have been, and continue to be, the subject of governmental investigations and inquiries with respect to the operation of our businesses, and we could be subject to future governmental investigations and inquiries, legal proceedings and enforcement actions. Any such investigation, inquiry, legal proceeding or enforcement action could adversely affect our business.
• Negative events or negative media coverage relating to, or a declining popularity of, sports betting, online sports betting, DFS, the underlying sports or athletes, iGaming or prediction markets, or other negative coverage may adversely impact our ability to retain or attract users, which could have an adverse impact on our business.
• Due to the nature of our business, we are subject to taxation in a number of jurisdictions, and changes in, or new interpretations of, tax laws, tax rulings or their application by tax authorities could result in additional tax liabilities and could materially affect our financial condition and results of operations. We have been, and continue to be, subject to periodic audits and examinations by the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”), as well as state and local taxing authorities, the results of which may materially impact our financial statements in the period in which the audit or examination occurs.
• The trading price of our Class A common stock has been, and will likely continue to be, volatile, and you could lose all or part of your investment.
• Because we are a “controlled company” under The Nasdaq Stock Market listing standards, our stockholders may not have certain corporate governance protections that are available to stockholders of companies that are not controlled companies.
• Our dual class structure has the effect of concentrating voting power with our Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, which limits an investor’s ability to influence the outcome of important transactions, including a change in control.
The summary risk factors described above should be read together with the text of the full risk factors below and the other information set forth in this Annual Report, including our consolidated financial statements and the related notes, as well as in other documents that we file with the SEC. If any such risks and uncertainties actually occur or are further aggravated, our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. The risks summarized above or described in full below are not the only risks that we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not currently known to us, or that we currently deem to be immaterial, may also materially adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.
Risk Factors Relating to Our Business and Industry
There is significant competition within the global entertainment and gaming industries, and our existing and potential users may be attracted to competing forms of entertainment such as television, movies and sporting events, as well as other entertainment and gaming options on the internet. If our product offerings do not continue to be popular, our business could be harmed.
We operate in the global entertainment and gaming industries. Our users face a vast array of entertainment choices. Other forms of entertainment, such as television, movies, sporting events and in-person casinos, are more well-established and may be perceived by our users to offer greater variety, affordability, interactivity and enjoyment. We compete with these other forms of entertainment for the discretionary time and income of our users. If we are unable to sustain sufficient interest in our Sportsbook, iGaming, DFS, digital lottery courier and prediction markets product offerings in comparison to other forms of entertainment, including new forms of entertainment, our business model may not continue to be viable.
The specific industries in which we operate are characterized by dynamic customer demand and technological advances, and there is significant competition among online gaming and entertainment providers. A number of established, well-financed companies producing online gaming, interactive entertainment products, prediction markets and services compete with our product offerings, and other well-capitalized companies may introduce competitive services. Such competitors may spend more money and time on developing and testing products and services, undertake more extensive marketing campaigns, adopt more aggressive pricing or promotional policies or otherwise develop more commercially successful products or services than ours, which could negatively impact our business. Our competitors may also develop products, features, or services that are similar to ours or that achieve greater market acceptance. Such competitors may also undertake more far-reaching and successful product development efforts or marketing campaigns, or may adopt more aggressive pricing policies. Furthermore, new competitors, whether licensed or not, may enter the gaming industry. There has also been considerable consolidation among competitors in the entertainment and gaming industries, and such consolidation and future consolidation could result in the formation of larger competitors with increased financial resources and altered cost structures, which may enable them to offer more competitive products, gain a larger market share, expand product offerings and broaden their geographic scope of operations. If we are not able to maintain or improve our market share, or if our product offerings do not continue to be popular, our business could suffer.
Economic downturns and political and market conditions beyond our control could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our financial performance is subject to global and U.S. economic conditions and their impact on levels of spending by users and advertisers. Economic recessions have had, and may continue to have, far reaching adverse consequences across many industries, including the global entertainment and gaming industries, which may adversely affect our business and financial condition.
The global and U.S. economies experienced tepid growth immediately following the global financial crisis in 2008 – 2009 and more recently experienced a period of increased volatility during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Ongoing or intensifying economic weakness, including recessions, economic slowdowns, uncertainties in the global financial markets and other adverse economic conditions, including inflation, changes in monetary policy and volatile interest rates, actual or perceived instability in the global banking sector, changes in the labor market, supply chain disruptions or other changes in economic and political conditions, may result in a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or prospects.
In addition, changes in general market, economic and political conditions in domestic and foreign economies or financial markets, including fluctuation in stock markets resulting from, among other things, trends in the economy as a whole, may reduce users’ disposable income and advertisers’ budgets. Any one of these changes could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or prospects.
Certain of our operations are in non-U.S. jurisdictions and are subject to the economic, political, regulatory, and other risks of international operations.
We conduct business in numerous countries that carry high levels of currency, political, compliance and economic risk. For example, we have offices in Ukraine and Israel, and the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine and conflicts or geopolitical instability in the Middle East and any business interruptions or other spillover effects from such conflicts could adversely affect our operations. Operations in non-U.S. jurisdictions can present many risks, including volatility in gross domestic product and rates of economic growth, financial and governmental instability, cultural differences (such as employment and business practices) and the imposition of exchange and capital controls.
Instability and uncertainties arising from the global geopolitical environment and the evolving international and domestic political, regulatory and economic landscape, including the potential for changes in global trade policies, including sanctions, tariffs and other trade barriers, and trends such as populism, economic nationalism and negative sentiment toward multinational companies, as well as the cost of compliance with increasingly complex and often conflicting regulations worldwide, can impair
our flexibility in modifying our product offerings, marketing, hiring or other strategies for growing our businesses, as well as our ability to improve productivity and maintain acceptable operating margins.
The United States and other countries have and may in the future implement actions, including trade actions, tariffs, export controls, and sanctions, against other countries or localities, which along with any retaliatory measures could increase costs, adversely affect our operations or adversely affect our ability to meet contractual and financial obligations. For example, since 2025, the United States has announced new tariffs and trade measures with respect to certain U.S. trading partners, which have had and could continue to have a significant impact on the macroeconomic environment and could adversely affect demand for our products and services. Additionally, it is possible that the Russia-Ukraine conflict or conflicts and geopolitical instability in the Middle East may escalate or expand, and the scope, extent and duration of the military action, current or future sanctions and resulting market and geopolitical disruptions could be significant. While to date sanctions and export controls have not had a material impact on our business, it is possible that these measures, as well as any countervailing responses, could adversely affect us and/or our supply chain, business counterparties or customers.
While these factors and their impact are difficult to predict, any one or more of them could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, results of operations, financial condition or liquidity.
Reductions in discretionary consumer spending could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Our business is particularly sensitive to reductions from time to time in discretionary consumer spending. Demand for entertainment and leisure activities, including gaming, can be affected by changes in the economy and consumer preferences, both of which are difficult to predict and beyond our control. Unfavorable changes in general economic conditions, including recessions, economic slowdowns, sustained high levels of unemployment and rising prices or the perception by consumers of weak or weakening economic conditions, may reduce our users’ disposable income or result in fewer individuals engaging in entertainment and leisure activities, such as sports betting, online gaming or DFS, or certain investment activities, such as prediction markets. As a result, we cannot ensure that the demand for our product offerings will remain consistent. Adverse developments affecting economies throughout the world, and particularly in the United States, including a general tightening of availability of credit, decreased liquidity in certain financial markets, volatile inflation and interest rates, foreign exchange fluctuations, increased energy costs, the impact of higher tariffs or escalating trade disputes, acts of war or terrorism, transportation disruptions, natural disasters, declining consumer confidence, sustained high levels of unemployment or significant declines in stock markets, as well as concerns regarding pandemics, epidemics and the spread of contagious diseases, could lead to a reduction in discretionary spending on leisure activities, such as our Sportsbook, iGaming, DFS, digital lottery courier and prediction markets product offerings.
We may experience fluctuations in our operating results, which could make our future results difficult to predict and could cause our operating results to fall below expectations.
Our financial results have fluctuated in the past, and we expect our financial results to fluctuate from quarter to quarter in the future. These fluctuations may be due to a variety of factors, some of which are outside of our control and may not fully reflect the underlying performance of our business.
Our financial results in any given quarter may be influenced by numerous factors, many of which we are unable to predict or are outside of our control, including the impact of seasonality and our betting results, and the other risks and uncertainties set forth herein. In particular, our Sportsbook, DFS and prediction markets operations have significant exposure to, and may be materially impacted by, sporting events and seasons, which can result in short-term volatility in betting win margins and user engagement, thus impacting revenues. Consumer engagement with our Sportsbook, iGaming, DFS, digital lottery courier and prediction markets product offerings may decline or fluctuate as a result of a number of factors, including the popularity of the underlying sports, the user’s level of satisfaction with our product offerings, our ability to improve and innovate, our ability to adapt our product offerings, outages and disruptions of online services, the availability of live sporting events, the services offered by our competitors, our marketing and advertising efforts or declines in consumer activity generally as a result of economic downturns, among others. Any decline or fluctuation in the recurring portion of our business may have a negative impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations or prospects.
In our iGaming product offering, operator losses are limited per stake to a maximum payout. When looking at bets across a period of time, however, these losses can potentially be significant. As part of our iGaming product offering, we offer progressive jackpot games. Each time a progressive jackpot game is played, a portion of the amount wagered by the user is contributed to the jackpot for that specific game or group of games. Once a jackpot is won, the progressive jackpot is reset with
a predetermined base amount. While we maintain a reserve for these progressive jackpots, the cost of the progressive jackpot payout would be a cash outflow for our business in the period in which it is won with a potentially significant adverse effect on our financial condition and cash flows. Because winning a progressive jackpot is underpinned by a random mechanism, we cannot predict with certainty when any such jackpot will be won. In addition, we do not insure against random outcomes or jackpot wins.
Our projections are subject to significant risks, assumptions, estimates and uncertainties, including assumptions regarding future legislation and changes in regulations, both inside and outside of the United States. As a result, our projected revenues, market share, expenses and profitability may differ materially from our expectations.
We operate in rapidly changing and competitive industries and our projections are subject to the risks and assumptions made by management with respect to our industries. Operating results are difficult to forecast because they generally depend on our assessment of the timing of adoption of future legislation and regulations by different jurisdictions, which are uncertain. Furthermore, if we invest in the development of new products or distribution channels that do not achieve significant commercial success, whether because of competition or otherwise, we may not recover the often substantial “up front” costs of developing and marketing those products and distribution channels or recover the opportunity cost of diverting management and financial resources away from other product offerings or distribution channels.
Additionally, as described above, our business may be affected by reductions in consumer spending from time to time as a result of a number of factors that may be difficult to predict. This may result in decreased revenue levels, and we may be unable to adopt measures in a timely manner to compensate for any unexpected shortfall in revenue. This inability could cause our operating results in a given quarter to be higher or lower than expected. If actual results differ from our estimates, analysts may react negatively and our stock price could be materially impacted. You should not rely upon our historical financial results as indicators of our future financial performance, and our financial results and stock price may be volatile.
We have a history of losses and we may not be consistently profitable in the future.
We achieved profitability on a net income basis for the year ended December 31, 2025. However, we have historically experienced cumulative net losses and negative cash flows from operations. We recognized net income in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) of $3.7 million in the year ended December 31, 2025 and net loss in accordance with U.S. GAAP of $507.3 million in the year ended December 31, 2024. We may continue to experience losses in the future, and we cannot assure you that we will maintain or increase our level of profitability. We expect our operating expenses to increase in the future as we expand our operations. If our revenue does not grow at a greater rate than our expenses, we will not be able to maintain or increase profitability. We may incur significant losses in the future for many reasons, including those described in the other risks and uncertainties described in this Annual Report. Additionally, we may encounter unforeseen expenses, operating delays, or other unknown factors that may result in losses in future periods. If our expenses exceed our revenue, our business may be negatively impacted, and we may not maintain or increase profitability.
Our results of operations fluctuate due to seasonality and other factors and, therefore, our periodic operating results are not guarantees of future performance.
Our Sportsbook, DFS and prediction markets operations fluctuate due to seasonal trends and other factors. A majority of our current Sportsbook and DFS handle and entry fees are and will continue to be generated from bets placed on, or contests relating to, the NFL and the NBA. As such, our historical revenues generally have been highest in the fourth quarter primarily due to the overlapping time frame of the NFL and NBA seasons. In addition, the NFL and NBA have their own respective off-seasons, which may cause decreases in our revenues during such periods. In addition, we believe that significant sporting events such as the playoffs and championship games tend to impact, among other things, revenues from operations, key metrics and customer activity, and, as such, our revenues may be impacted when those games occur. Our revenues have been, and in the future may be, affected by the scheduling of major sporting events that do not occur annually, such as the World Cup, or the cancellation or postponement of sporting events. In addition, certain individuals or teams advancing or failing to advance and their scores and other results within specific tournaments, games or events has in the past enhanced, and may in the future enhance, the impact of seasonality and other factors that impact our financial performance.
The success, including win or hold rates, of existing or future sports betting and iGaming product offerings depends on a variety of factors and is not completely controlled by us.
The sports betting and iGaming industries are characterized by an element of chance. Accordingly, we employ theoretical win rates to estimate what a certain type of sports bet or iGame, on average, will win or lose in the long run. Net win is impacted by variations in the hold percentage (the ratio of net win to total amount wagered) or actual outcome, on our iGames and sports bets we offer to our users. We use hold percentage as an indicator of an iGame’s or sports bet’s performance against its expected outcome. Although each iGame or sports bet generally performs within a defined statistical range of outcomes, actual outcomes may vary for any given period. In addition to the element of chance, win rates (hold percentages) may also (depending on the game involved) be affected by the spread of limits and factors that are beyond our control, such as a user’s experience and behavior, the mix of games played, the financial resources of users, the volume of bets placed and the amount of time spent engaging with our product offerings. As a result of the variability in these factors, the actual win rates on our iGames and sports bets may differ from the theoretical win rates we have estimated and could result in the winnings of our users exceeding those anticipated. The variability of win rates (hold rates) also has the potential to negatively impact our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.
Our success also depends in part on our ability to anticipate and satisfy user preferences in a timely manner. As we operate in a dynamic environment characterized by rapidly changing industry and legal standards, our product offerings will be subject to changing consumer preferences that cannot be predicted with certainty. We need to continually introduce new product offerings and identify future product offerings that complement our existing technology, respond to our users’ needs and improve and enhance our existing technology to maintain or increase our user engagement and growth of our business. We may not be able to compete effectively unless our product offering selection keeps up with trends in the digital sports entertainment and gaming industries in which we compete, or trends in new gaming product offerings.
We use artificial intelligence, machine learning, data science and similar technologies in our business, and challenges with properly managing such technologies could result in reputational harm, competitive harm and legal liability, and adversely affect our results of operations.
We use artificial intelligence (including generative artificial intelligence), machine learning, data science and similar technologies (collectively, “AI”) in our technology and infrastructure, which may become more important in our operations over time. Our competitors or other third parties may incorporate AI in a similar or different manner, and may do so more quickly or more successfully than us, which could impair our ability to compete effectively and adversely affect our results of operations. Third-party AI tools may be deemed to be infringing on third party intellectual property rights (including as a result of being trained on unauthorized materials) or may contain insufficient safeguards, matters over which we may have no or limited visibility or control. Additionally, if the content, analyses, materials, software, or recommendations that AI produces or assists in producing (or actions that AI systems, including AI agents, take) are, or are alleged to be, infringing or otherwise violating of others’ rights (including intellectual property rights), or illegal, we may be subject to legal liability or our business, reputation, financial condition and results of operations may otherwise be adversely affected.
In addition, customers or other third parties may use AI-powered bots or similar computer programs to interfere with or attempt to gain an unfair advantage in connection with our products or offerings, which could adversely affect our business and results of operations.
The use of AI (and, in particular, generative AI) can lead to unintended consequences, including the generation of outputs that appear correct but are factually inaccurate, misleading or are otherwise flawed, which could harm our reputation and business. The content, analysis, materials, software, recommendations and other outputs produced by AI (and, in particular, generative AI), may be subject to limited or no intellectual property or other proprietary protection. We may lose intellectual property and other proprietary rights in any data, content, confidential information, trade secrets, or other materials that we provide as inputs to AI technology. If we are unable to assert proprietary rights in such outputs or inputs against use by third parties, we may experience competitive harm, and our financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected. We may experiment with or deploy AI agents or other AI-enabled automation that can plan, make decisions, and take actions with reduced human prompting or oversight. Such autonomous systems may increase the risk of unintended, unauthorized or harmful outcomes, including where such systems interact with other systems or third-party tools, data sources or vendors.
In addition, the use of AI may result in violations of applicable data security or data privacy laws, or in cybersecurity incidents that implicate the personal data of end customers, employees or other third parties. Any such violation or cybersecurity incidents related to our use of AI could result in legal liability or otherwise adversely affect our reputation and results of operations. If our use of AI becomes controversial, we may experience brand or reputational harm or competitive harm. AI is subject to a dynamic and rapidly evolving legal and regulatory environment, the extent and scope of which may in many instances be uncertain and may vary (or conflict) across jurisdictions. Such laws and regulations (which have begun to take effect) impose compliance obligations and penalties and may require us to make modifications to our products, services, policies, procedures and business practices. Compliance with existing and potential government regulation of AI may require significant resources, including to develop, test and maintain platforms, offerings, services and features to help us implement AI in accordance with applicable law, and to minimize other adverse effect on our results of operations.
We rely on information technology and other systems and services, and any failures, errors, defects or disruptions in our systems or services could diminish our brand and reputation, subject us to liability, disrupt our business, affect our ability to scale our technical infrastructure and adversely affect our operating results and growth prospects. Our games and other software applications and systems, and the third-party platforms upon which they are made available, could contain undetected errors.
Our technology infrastructure is critical to the performance of our product offerings and to user satisfaction. However, our systems may not be adequately designed with the necessary reliability and redundancy to avoid performance delays or outages that could be harmful to our business. We cannot assure you that the measures we take to prevent, detect or hinder cybersecurity incidents; protect our systems, data and user information; prevent outages, data or information loss and fraud; and prevent or detect security breaches, including a disaster recovery strategy for server and equipment failure and back-office systems and the use of third parties for certain cybersecurity services, will provide absolute security. We have experienced, and we may in the future experience, website disruptions, outages and other performance problems due to a variety of factors, including infrastructure changes, human or software errors, cybersecurity incidents and capacity constraints. Such disruptions have not had a material impact on us; however, future disruptions from unauthorized access to, fraudulent manipulation of, or tampering with our computer systems and technological infrastructure, or those of third parties, could result in a wide range of negative outcomes, each of which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Additionally, our product offerings from time to time contain errors, bugs, flaws or corrupted data, and these defects have in certain instances only become apparent after their launch. If a particular product offering is unavailable when users attempt to access it or navigation through our product offerings is slower than they expect, users may be unable to place their bets or submit their line-ups in a timely manner and may be less likely to return to our product offerings as often, if at all. Furthermore, programming errors, defects and data corruption could disrupt our operations, adversely affect the experience of our users, harm our reputation, cause our users to stop utilizing our product offerings, divert our resources and delay market acceptance of our product offerings, any of which could result in legal liability to us or harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
If our user base and engagement continue to grow, and the amount and types of product offerings continue to grow and evolve, we will need an increasing amount of technical infrastructure, including network capacity, computing power and possible increasing reliance on third-party providers, to continue to satisfy our users’ needs. Such infrastructure expansion may be complex, and unanticipated delays in completing these projects or availability of components may lead to increased project costs, operational inefficiencies, or interruptions in the delivery or degradation of the quality of our product offerings. In addition, there may be issues related to this infrastructure that are not identified during the testing phases of design and implementation, and which may only become evident after we have started to fully use the underlying equipment or software, that could further degrade the user experience or increase our costs. As such, we could fail to continue to effectively scale and grow our technical infrastructure to accommodate increased demands. In addition, our business may be subject to interruptions, delays or failures resulting from adverse weather conditions, other natural disasters, power loss, terrorism, cybersecurity incidents, public health emergencies or other catastrophic events.
We believe that if our users have a negative experience with our product offerings, or if our brand or reputation is negatively affected, our users may be less inclined to continue or resume utilizing our product offerings or to recommend our product offerings to other potential users. As such, a failure or significant interruption in our service could harm our reputation, business and operating results.
Despite our security measures, our information technology systems and infrastructure are vulnerable to cybersecurity incidents arising from attacks by hackers or breaches due to employee error, malfeasance or other disruptions. Any such cybersecurity incident could compromise our networks and the information stored there could be accessed, publicly disclosed, lost or stolen, which could damage our reputation, cause a loss of confidence in our product offerings or services, or otherwise adversely affect our business.
The secure maintenance and transmission of user information is a critical element of our operations. Our information technology and other systems that maintain and transmit user information, or that of service providers, business counterparties or employees have in the past been, and in the future may be, compromised by a malicious third-party penetration of our network security, or that of a third-party service provider or business counterparty, or impacted by intentional or unintentional actions or inaction by our employees, or those of a third-party service provider or business counterparty. As a result of any such cybersecurity incident, our users’ information and funds may be lost, disclosed, accessed or taken without our users’ consent. We have experienced, and we expect that in the future we will experience, cybersecurity incidents, attempts to breach our information technology systems and other similar incidents. For example, we have been, and expect that we will continue to be, subject to attempts to gain unauthorized access to or through our information systems or those we develop for our customers, whether by our employees or third-party service providers or business counterparties, including cyber-attacks by computer
programmers and hackers who may develop and deploy viruses, worms or other malicious software programs into our information technology systems and infrastructure. To date, these cybersecurity incidents have not had a material impact on our operations or financial results, but we cannot provide assurance that they will not have a material impact in the future.
We rely on encryption and authentication technology licensed from third parties in an effort to securely transmit confidential and sensitive information, including credit card numbers. Advances in computer capabilities, new technological discoveries or other developments may result in the whole or partial failure of this technology to protect transaction data or other confidential and sensitive information from being breached or compromised. In addition, websites are often attacked through compromised credentials, including those obtained through phishing and credential stuffing. Our cybersecurity measures, and those of our third-party service providers, may not prevent, detect or hinder all attempts to breach our systems, denial-of-service attacks, viruses, malicious software, break-ins, phishing, social engineering, security breaches or other attacks and similar disruptions that may jeopardize the security of information stored in or transmitted by our websites, networks and systems or that we or such third parties otherwise maintain, including payment card systems, which may subject us to fines or higher transaction fees or limit or terminate our access to certain payment methods. We and such third parties may not anticipate, detect or prevent all types of attacks until after they have already been launched. For example, beginning in November 2022, DraftKings was the target of potential credential stuffing attacks, in which it appears that one or more bad actors may have obtained login credentials from a non-DraftKings source and used the credentials to access certain DraftKings players’ accounts. Further, techniques used to obtain unauthorized access to or sabotage systems change frequently and may not be known until launched against us or our third-party service providers.
In addition, cybersecurity incidents can also occur as a result of non-technical issues, including intentional or inadvertent breaches by our employees or by third parties or failures to detect or adequately respond to breaches of our security measures. These risks increase over time as the complexity and number of technical systems and applications we use also increases. Breaches of our security measures or those of our third-party service providers or cybersecurity incidents have in the past been, and in the future could, result in unauthorized access to our sites, networks and systems; unauthorized access to and misappropriation of user information, including users’ personally identifiable information, or other confidential or proprietary information of ourselves or third parties; viruses, worms, spyware or other malware being served from our sites, networks or systems; deletion or modification of content or the display of unauthorized content on our sites; interruption, disruption or malfunction of operations; costs relating to breach remediation, deployment of additional personnel and protection technologies, response to governmental investigations and media inquiries and coverage; engagement of third-party experts and consultants; litigation, regulatory action and other potential liabilities. In the past, we have experienced social engineering, phishing, malware and similar attacks and threats of denial-of-service attacks, none of which to date has been material to our business; however, such breaches could in the future have a material adverse effect on our operations. If any of these breaches of security should occur and be material, our reputation and brand could be damaged, our business may suffer, we could be required to expend significant capital and other resources to alleviate problems caused by such breaches, and we could be exposed to a risk of loss, litigation or regulatory action and possible liability. We cannot guarantee that recovery protocols and backup systems will be sufficient to prevent data loss. Actual or anticipated attacks may cause us to incur increasing costs, including costs to deploy additional personnel and protection technologies, train employees and engage third-party experts and consultants.
In addition, users may experience password or other compromises unrelated to our systems that enable an unauthorized party to access or obtain the user’s transaction data or personal information, resulting in the perception that our systems are insecure. Any compromise or breach of our security measures, or those of our third-party service providers, could violate applicable privacy, data protection, data security, network and information systems security and other laws and cause significant legal and financial exposure, adverse publicity and a loss of confidence in our security measures, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. We continue to devote significant resources to protect against cybersecurity incidents and we may need to do so in the future to address problems caused by breaches, including notifying affected users, investigating the matter and responding to any resulting litigation or regulatory investigation or action, which in turn, diverts resources from the growth and expansion of our business.
We rely on Amazon Web Services to deliver our product offerings to users, and any disruption of or interference with our use of Amazon Web Services could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We host certain of our product offerings and support our operations using Amazon Web Services (“AWS”), a third-party provider of cloud infrastructure services, along with other service providers. We do not, and will not, have control over the operations of the facilities or infrastructure of the third-party service providers that we use. Such third parties’ facilities are vulnerable to damage or interruption from natural disasters, cybersecurity incidents, terrorist attacks, power outages and similar events or acts of misconduct. Our technology’s continuing and uninterrupted performance is critical to our success. We have experienced, and we expect that in the future we will experience, interruptions, delays and outages in service and availability from these third-party service providers from time to time due to a variety of factors, including infrastructure changes, human or software errors, website hosting disruptions, cybersecurity incidents and capacity constraints. In addition, any changes in these third parties’ service levels may adversely affect our ability to meet the requirements of our users. Since our technology’s
continuing and uninterrupted performance is critical to our success, sustained or repeated system failures would reduce the attractiveness of our product offerings. It may become increasingly difficult to maintain and improve our performance, especially during peak usage times, as we expand and the usage of our product offerings increases. Any negative publicity arising from these disruptions could harm our reputation and brand and may adversely affect the usage of our product offerings.
Our commercial agreement with AWS will remain in effect until terminated by AWS or us. AWS may only terminate the agreement for convenience after complying with the contractual prior notice requirement of two years. AWS may also terminate the agreement for cause upon a breach of the agreement or for failure to pay amounts due, in each case, subject to AWS providing prior written notice and a 30-day cure period. In the event that our agreement with AWS is terminated or we add additional cloud infrastructure service providers, we may experience significant costs or downtime in connection with the transfer to, or the addition of, new cloud infrastructure service providers. Although alternative providers could host our product offerings on a substantially similar basis to AWS, transitioning the cloud infrastructure currently hosted by AWS to alternative providers could potentially be disruptive and we could incur significant one-time costs.
Any of the above circumstances or events may harm our reputation and brand, reduce the availability or usage of our technology, lead to a significant loss of revenue, increase our costs and impair our ability to attract new users, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We rely on third-party providers to validate the identity and identify the location of our users, and if such providers fail to perform adequately or provide accurate information or we do not maintain business relationships with them, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be adversely affected.
There is no guarantee that the third-party geolocation and identity verification systems that we rely on will perform adequately, or be effective. We rely on our geolocation and identity verification systems to ensure we are in compliance with certain applicable laws and regulations, and any service disruption to those systems would prohibit us from operating our product offerings and would adversely affect our business. Additionally, incorrect or misleading geolocation and identity verification data with respect to current or potential users received from third-party service providers may result in us inadvertently allowing access to our product offerings to individuals who should not be permitted to access them, or otherwise inadvertently deny access to individuals who should be able to access our product offerings, in each case based on inaccurate identity or geographic location determination. Our third-party geolocation services provider relies on its ability to obtain information necessary to determine geolocation from mobile devices, operating systems and other sources. Changes, disruptions or temporary or permanent failure to access such sources by our third-party services providers may result in their inability to accurately determine the location of our users. Moreover, our inability to maintain our existing contracts with third-party services providers, or to replace them with equivalent third parties, may result in our inability to access geolocation and identity verification data necessary for our day-to-day operations. If any of these risks materializes, we may be subject to disciplinary action, fines or lawsuits, and our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.
Our technology contains third-party open source software components, and failure to comply with the terms of the underlying open source software licenses could restrict our ability to provide our product offerings.
Our technology contains software modules licensed to us by third-party authors under “open source” licenses. Use and distribution of open source software may entail greater risks than use of third-party commercial software, as open source licensors generally do not provide support, warranties, indemnification or other contractual protections regarding infringement claims or the quality of the source code. In addition, the public availability of such software may make it easier for others to compromise our technology.
Some open source licenses contain requirements that we make available source code for modifications or derivative works we create based upon the type of open source software we use, or grant other licenses to our intellectual property. If we combine our proprietary software with open source software in a certain manner, we could, under certain open source licenses, be required to release the source code of our proprietary software to the public. This would allow our competitors to create similar product offerings with lower development effort and time and ultimately could result in a loss of our competitive advantages. Alternatively, to avoid the public release of the affected portions of our source code, we could be required to expend substantial time and resources to re-engineer some or all of our software.
Although we monitor our use of open source software to avoid subjecting our technology to conditions we do not intend, there is a risk that these licenses could be construed in a way that could impose unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our ability to provide or distribute our technology. From time to time, there have been claims challenging the ownership of open source software against companies that incorporate open source software into their solutions. As a result, we could be subject to lawsuits by parties claiming ownership of what we believe to be open source software. Moreover, we cannot assure you that our
processes for controlling our use of open source software in our technology will be effective. If we are held to have breached or failed to fully comply with all the terms and conditions of an open source software license, we could face infringement or other liability or be required to seek costly licenses from third parties to continue providing our product offerings on terms that are not economically feasible, to re-engineer our technology, to discontinue or delay the provision of our product offerings if re-engineering could not be accomplished on a timely basis or to make generally available, in source code form, our proprietary code, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We rely on third-party payment processors to process deposits and withdrawals made by our users, and if we cannot manage our relationships with such third parties and other payment-related risks, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be adversely affected.
We rely on a limited number of third-party payment processors to process deposits and withdrawals made by our users. If any of our third-party payment processors terminates its relationship with us or refuses to renew its agreement with us on commercially reasonable terms, we would need to find an alternate payment processor and may not be able to secure similar terms or replace such payment processor in an acceptable time frame. Further, the software and services provided by our third-party payment processors may not meet our expectations, may contain errors or vulnerabilities or may be compromised or experience outages. Any of these risks could cause us to lose our ability to accept online payments or other payment transactions, make timely payments to our users or access funds or credit in such payment processors or systems, any of which could make our technology less trustworthy and convenient, adversely affect our ability to attract and retain our users and negatively impact our working capital position.
Nearly all of our payments are made by credit card, debit card or through other third-party payment services, which subjects us to certain regulations and the risk of fraud. We may in the future offer new payment options to users that may be subject to additional regulations and risks. We are also subject to a number of other laws and regulations relating to the payments we accept from our users, including with respect to money laundering, money transfers, privacy and information security. If we fail to comply with applicable rules and regulations (including anti-money laundering regulations), we may be subject to civil or criminal penalties, fines and/or higher transaction fees and may lose our ability to accept online payments or other payment card transactions, which could make our product offerings less convenient and attractive to our users. If any of these events were to occur, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be adversely affected.
For example, if we are deemed to be a money transmitter as defined by applicable regulations, we could be subject to certain laws, rules and regulations enforced by multiple authorities and governing bodies in the United States and numerous state and local agencies who may define money transmitter differently. For example, certain states may have a more expansive view of who qualifies as a money transmitter. Additionally, outside of the United States, we could be subject to additional laws, rules and regulations related to the provision of payments and financial services, and if we expand into new jurisdictions, the foreign regulations and regulators governing our business that we are subject to will expand as well. If we are found to be a money transmitter under any applicable regulation and we are not in compliance with such regulation, we may be subject to fines or other penalties in one or more jurisdictions levied by federal or state or local regulators, including state attorneys general, as well as those levied by foreign regulators. In addition to fines, penalties for failing to comply with applicable rules and regulations could include criminal and civil proceedings, forfeiture of significant assets or other enforcement actions. We could also be required to make changes to our business practices or compliance programs as a result of regulatory scrutiny.
Additionally, our payment processors require us to comply with payment card network operating rules, which are set and interpreted by the payment card networks. The payment card networks could adopt new operating rules or interpret or reinterpret existing rules in ways that might prohibit us from providing certain product offerings to some users, be costly to implement or difficult to follow. We have agreed to reimburse our payment processors for fines they are assessed by payment card networks if we or our users violate these rules. Any of the foregoing risks could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We rely on third-party sports data providers for real-time and accurate data for sporting events for our Sportsbook and DFS products, and if such third parties do not perform adequately or terminate their relationships with us, our costs may increase and our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be adversely affected.
We rely on third-party sports data providers, such as SportRadar and Genius Sports, among others, to obtain accurate information regarding schedules, results, performance and outcomes of sporting events for our Sportsbook and DFS products. We rely on this data to determine when and how bets are settled and how contestants rank in their DFS contests. We have experienced, and may continue to experience, errors in these data feeds, which may result in us incorrectly settling bets or ranking contestants in their DFS contests. If we cannot adequately resolve the issue with our users, our users may have a
negative experience with our product offerings, our brand or reputation may be negatively affected, our users may be less inclined to continue or resume utilizing our product offerings or recommend our product offerings to other potential users and we may be subject to litigation. As such, a failure or significant interruption in our data feed service may harm our reputation, business and operating results.
Furthermore, if any of our sports data providers terminates its relationship with us or refuses to renew its agreement with us on commercially reasonable terms, we would need to find an alternate provider and may not be able to secure similar terms or replace such providers in an acceptable time frame, or at all. Any of these risks could increase our costs and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Further, any negative publicity related to any of our third-party providers, including any publicity related to regulatory concerns, could adversely affect our reputation and brand and could potentially lead to increased regulatory or litigation exposure.
We rely on other third-party service providers, and if such third parties do not perform adequately or terminate their relationships with us, our costs may increase and our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be adversely affected.
Our success depends in part on our relationships with third-party service providers. For example, we rely on third parties for content delivery, load balancing and protection against distributed denial-of-service attacks. If those providers do not perform adequately, our users may experience issues or interruptions with their product offering experiences. Furthermore, if any of our providers terminates its relationship with us or refuses to renew its agreement with us on commercially reasonable terms, we would need to find an alternate provider, and may not be able to secure similar terms or replace such providers in an acceptable time frame, or at all. We also rely on other software and services supplied by third parties, such as communications and internal software, and our business may be adversely affected to the extent such software and services do not meet our expectations, contain errors or vulnerabilities, are compromised or experience outages. Any of these risks could increase our costs and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Further, any negative publicity related to any of our third-party providers, including any publicity related to regulatory concerns, could adversely affect our reputation and brand, and could potentially lead to increased regulatory or litigation exposure.
We incorporate technology from third parties into our product offerings. We cannot be certain that our licensors are not infringing the intellectual property rights of others or that the suppliers and licensors have sufficient rights to the technology in all jurisdictions in which we may operate. Some of our license agreements may be terminated by our licensors for convenience. If we are unable to obtain or maintain rights to any of this technology because of intellectual property infringement claims brought by third parties against our suppliers and licensors or against us, or if we are unable to continue to obtain the technology or enter into new agreements on commercially reasonable terms, our ability to develop our product offerings containing that technology could be severely limited and our business could be harmed.
Additionally, if we are unable to obtain necessary technology from third parties, we may be forced to acquire or develop alternate technology, which may require significant time and effort and may be of lower quality or performance standards. This would limit and delay our ability to provide new or competitive product offerings and increase our costs. If alternate technology cannot be obtained or developed, we may not be able to offer certain functionality as part of our product offerings, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We rely on third-party futures commission merchants, exchanges and market makers for our prediction markets product offerings, and if such third parties do not perform adequately or terminate their relationships with us, our prediction markets and our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be adversely affected.
We rely on third-party market infrastructure providers, including Wedbush Securities Inc. (“Wedbush”) in its capacity as our futures commission merchant (“FCM”) and Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (“CME”) and Crypto.com | Derivatives North America (“CDNA”), each in their capacities as the DCMs on which our prediction markets are listed and derivatives clearing organizations (“DCO”) that clear and settle such contracts. If any of these third parties (other than CME or CDNA in their capacities as DCOs) terminates its relationship with us or refuses to renew its agreement with us on commercially reasonable terms, or if any such third party restricts the services it provides to us (including services relating to prediction markets) or is unwilling or unable to continue to support our product offerings, we would need to find an alternate FCM, DCM or DCO. We may not be able to secure similar terms or replace such providers in an acceptable time frame, or at all. Any such changes could increase our costs, require us to modify or limit our prediction markets offerings or delay the launch of new products.
We also rely upon CME’s and CDNA’s market makers that provide liquidity in certain of our prediction markets. If any of these third parties terminates its relationship with CME or CDNA, as applicable, restricts the services it provides or is unwilling
or unable to continue to support our product offerings, our users may have a negative experience with our prediction markets offerings, our brand and reputation may be negatively affected, and users may be less inclined to continue or resume using our prediction markets or to recommend our offerings to others. Any such changes could require us to modify or limit our prediction markets offerings, delay the launch of new products, and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
The software, technology and services provided by Wedbush, CME, CDNA and CME’s and CDNA’s market makers may not meet our expectations, may contain errors or vulnerabilities or may be compromised or experience interruptions or outages. For example, issues with order routing, trade execution, clearing or settlement, market data, connectivity, pricing or quoting could cause us to lose the ability to list or maintain certain prediction markets, impair customers’ ability to place or close positions, delay settlement or result in us incorrectly displaying markets or outcomes. Our ability to provide a reliable prediction markets experience depends on these third parties operating effectively. If we cannot adequately resolve issues that arise with these providers or with our customers, our users may have a negative experience with our prediction markets offerings, our brand and reputation may be negatively affected, and users may be less inclined to continue or resume using our prediction markets or to recommend our offerings to others. Any of these events could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Wedbush, CME, and CDNA are also subject to regulation and supervision, including by the CFTC and, in the cases of CME and CDNA in their capacities as DCMs, as self-regulatory organizations with rulemaking and enforcement authority over their markets and participants. Changes in laws, regulations or regulatory interpretations, or regulatory inquiries, investigations or enforcement actions involving Wedbush, CME, or CDNA could cause them to change, limit or cease certain services, including support for prediction markets, or to impose new or more stringent requirements on us or our users. CME and CDNA, in particular, have discretion to adopt, interpret and enforce rules governing product listing and delisting, trading halts, position limits, margin requirements, fee schedules and clearing eligibility that directly affect the economics, liquidity and availability of our prediction markets. If we fail to comply with applicable rules or contractual obligations relating to our use of these services, we could be subject to penalties, higher fees, limitations on our access to certain markets or services or other adverse consequences.
Because our prediction markets offering relies on a limited number of key third-party providers for FCM, exchange, clearing and market-making services, we are exposed to significant third-party and concentration risk. Furthermore, any negative publicity related to Wedbush, CME, CDNA, CME’s market makers, CDNA’s market makers, or other third parties, including publicity related to regulatory concerns, operational failures or financial condition, could adversely affect our reputation and brand and could potentially lead to increased regulatory or litigation exposure for us. Any of the foregoing risks could increase our costs and adversely affect our ability to offer prediction markets, which could in turn adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
If we fail to detect fraud or theft, including by our users and employees, our reputation may suffer which could harm our brand and reputation and negatively impact our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects and could subject us to investigations and litigation.
We have in the past incurred, and may in the future incur, losses from various types of financial fraud, including use of stolen or fraudulent credit card data, claims of unauthorized payments by a user and attempted payments by users with insufficient funds. Bad actors use increasingly sophisticated methods to engage in illegal activities involving personal information, such as unauthorized use of another person’s identity, account information or payment information and unauthorized acquisition or use of credit or debit card details, bank account information and mobile phone numbers and accounts. Under current credit card practices, we may be liable for use of funds on our products with fraudulent credit card data, even if the associated financial institution approved the credit card transaction.
Acts of fraud may involve various tactics, including collusion. Successful exploitation of our systems could have negative effects on our product offerings, services and user experience and could harm our reputation. Failure to discover such acts or schemes in a timely manner could result in harm to our operations. In addition, negative publicity related to such schemes could have an adverse effect on our reputation, potentially causing a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. In the event of the occurrence of any such issues with our existing technology or product offerings, substantial engineering and marketing resources and management attention may be diverted from other projects to correct these issues, which may delay other projects and the achievement of our strategic objectives.
In addition, any misappropriation of, or access to, users’ or other proprietary information or other breach of our information security could result in legal claims or legal proceedings, including regulatory investigations and actions, or liability for failure
to comply with privacy and information security laws, including for failure to protect personal information or for misusing personal information, which could disrupt our operations, force us to modify our business practices, damage our reputation and expose us to claims from our users, regulators, employees and other persons, any of which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. For example, beginning in November 2022, DraftKings was the target of potential credential stuffing attacks, in which it appears that one or more bad actors may have obtained login credentials from a non-DraftKings source and used the credentials to access certain DraftKings players’ accounts.
Despite measures we have taken to detect and reduce the occurrence of fraudulent or other malicious activity on our platform, we cannot guarantee that any of our measures will be effective or will scale efficiently with our business. Our failure to adequately detect or prevent fraudulent transactions could harm our reputation or brand, result in litigation or regulatory action and lead to expenses that could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
If internet and other technology-based service providers experience service interruptions, our ability to conduct our business may be impaired and our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.
A substantial portion of our network infrastructure is provided by third parties, including internet service providers and other technology-based service providers. See “—We rely on Amazon Web Services to deliver our product offerings to users, and any disruption of or interference with our use of Amazon Web Services could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects” above. We require technology-based service providers to implement cyber-attack-resilient systems and processes. However, if internet service providers experience service interruptions, including because of cybersecurity incidents, or due to an event causing an unusually high volume of internet use, communications over the internet may be interrupted and impair our ability to conduct our business. Internet service providers and other technology-based service providers may in the future roll out upgraded or new mobile or other telecommunications services, such as 5G or 6G services, which may not be successful and thus may impact the ability of our users to access our product offerings in a timely fashion or at all. In addition, our ability to process e-commerce transactions depends on bank processing and credit card systems. To prepare for system problems, we continuously seek to strengthen and enhance our current facilities and the capabilities of our system infrastructure and support. Nevertheless, there can be no assurance that the internet infrastructure or our own network systems will continue to be able to meet the demand placed on us by the continued growth of the internet, the overall online gaming industry and our users. Any difficulties these providers face, including the potential of certain network traffic receiving priority over other traffic (i.e., lack of net neutrality), may adversely affect our business, and we exercise little control over these providers, which increases our vulnerability to problems with the services they provide. Any system failure as a result of reliance on third parties, such as network, software or hardware failure, including as a result of cybersecurity incidents, which causes a loss of our users’ property or personal information or a delay or interruption in our online services and product offerings and e-commerce services, including our ability to handle existing or increased traffic, could result in a loss of anticipated revenue, interruptions to our product offerings, cause us to incur significant legal, remediation and notification costs, degrade the customer experience and cause users to lose confidence in our product offerings, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We rely on strategic relationships with casinos, tribes and horse-tracks in order to be able to offer our Sportsbook and iGaming product offerings in certain jurisdictions. If we cannot establish and manage such relationships with such partners, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be adversely affected.
Under the sports betting and iGaming laws of certain states, online sportsbook and iGaming are limited to a finite number of retail operators, such as casinos, tribes or tracks, who own a “skin” or “skins” under that state’s law. A “skin” is a legally-authorized license from a state to offer online sportsbook or iGaming services provided by such a retail operator. The “skin” provides a market access opportunity for mobile operators to operate in the jurisdiction pending licensure and other required approvals by the state’s regulator. The entities that control those “skins,” and the numbers of “skins” available, are typically determined by a state’s law authorizing sports betting or iGaming. In most of the jurisdictions in which we offer Sportsbook and iGaming, we currently rely on a casino, tribe or track in order to get a “skin.” These “skins” are what allow us to gain access to jurisdictions where online operators are required to have a retail relationship. If we cannot establish, renew or manage such relationships, those relationships could terminate, and we would not be allowed to operate in those jurisdictions until we enter into new ones. As a result, our business, financial condition results of operations and prospects could be adversely affected.
Our growth depends, in part, on the success of our strategic relationships with third parties. Overreliance on certain third parties, or our inability to extend existing relationships or agree to new relationships, may cause unanticipated costs for us and impact our financial performance in the future.
We rely on relationships with sports leagues and teams, professional athletes and athlete organizations, advertisers, casinos and other third parties in order to attract users to our product offerings. These relationships along with providers of online services, search engines, social media, directories and other websites and e-commerce businesses direct consumers to our product offerings. In addition, many of the parties with whom we have advertising arrangements provide advertising services to other companies, including other fantasy sports and gaming product offerings with whom we compete. While we believe there are other third parties that could drive users to our product offerings, adding or transitioning to them may disrupt our business and increase our costs. In the event that any of our existing relationships or our future relationships fail to provide services to us in accordance with the terms of our arrangement, or at all, and we are not able to find suitable alternatives, this could impact our ability to attract consumers cost effectively and harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Our growth prospects may suffer if we are unable to develop successful product offerings or if we fail to pursue additional product offerings. In addition, if we fail to make the right investment decisions in our product offerings and technology, we may not attract and retain key users, and our revenue and results of operations may decline.
We were founded in 2011 with a singular focus on the DFS industry and initially focused our efforts on growing our DFS product offering. In 2018, we expanded our product offerings to include our Sportsbook and iGaming product offerings. In 2021, we expanded our media offering and launched Marketplace, which we discontinued in 2024. In 2024, with the acquisition of Jackpocket, we added a new digital lottery courier product offering. In 2025, we launched our prediction markets product offering, DraftKings Predictions. We have rapidly expanded and we anticipate expanding further as new product offerings mature and as we pursue our growth strategies.
The industries in which we operate are subject to rapid and changes in standards, technologies, products and services, as well as in customer demands and expectations and regulations. We must continuously make decisions regarding in which product offerings and technology we should invest to meet customer demand in compliance with evolving industry standards and regulatory requirements and must continually introduce and successfully market new and innovative technologies, product offerings and enhancements to remain competitive and effectively stimulate customer demand, acceptance and engagement. Our ability to engage, retain and increase our user base and to increase our revenue will depend heavily on our ability to successfully create new product offerings, both independently and together with third parties. We may introduce significant changes to our existing technology and product offerings or develop and introduce new and unproven products and services, with which we have little or no prior development or operating experience. The process of developing new product offerings and systems is inherently complex and uncertain, and new product offerings may not be well received by users, even if well-reviewed and of high quality. If we are unable to develop technology and product offerings that address users’ needs or enhance and improve our existing technology and product offerings in a timely manner, that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Although we intend to continue investing in our research and development efforts, if new or enhanced product offerings fail to engage our users or partners, we may fail to attract or retain users or to generate sufficient revenue, operating margin, or other value to justify our investments, any of which may seriously harm our business. In addition, management may not properly ascertain or assess the risks of new initiatives, and subsequent events may alter the risks that were evaluated at the time we decided to execute any new initiative. Developing and creating additional product offerings can also divert management’s attention from other business issues and opportunities. Even if our new product offerings attain market acceptance, those new product offerings have in certain cases cannibalized, and in the future could continue to cannibalize, the market share of our existing product offerings or share of our users’ wallets in a manner that may negatively impact our business. For example, we have historically observed that revenue from our DFS product offering tends to decline in a state following the launch of our Sportsbook product offering in that state. In addition, our entry into and potential expansion of prediction markets through regulated event contracts may involve heightened legal, regulatory, compliance, reputational and operational risks, and may require significant investment and management attention, any of which could delay or constrain launches, limit adoption, increase costs or adversely affect our business. Furthermore, such expansion of our business increases the complexity of our business and places an additional burden on our management, operations, technical systems and financial resources, and we may not recover the often-substantial up-front costs of developing and marketing new product offerings or recover the opportunity cost of diverting management and financial resources away from other product offerings. In the event of continued growth of our operations, product offerings or in the number of third-party relationships, we may not have adequate resources, operationally, technologically or otherwise to support such growth, and the quality of our technology, product offerings or our relationships with third parties could suffer. In addition, failure to effectively identify, pursue and execute new business initiatives or to efficiently adapt our processes and infrastructure to meet the needs of our innovations may adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Any new product offerings may also require our users to utilize new skills to use our product offerings. This could create a lag in adoption of new product offerings and new user additions related to any new product offerings. To date, new product offerings and enhancements of our existing technology have not materially hindered our user growth or engagement, but that may be the result of a large portion of our user base being in a younger demographic and more willing to invest the time to learn to use our product offerings most effectively. To the extent that future users, including those in older demographics, are less willing to invest the time to learn to use our product offerings, and if we are unable to make our product offerings easy to learn to use, our user growth or engagement could be affected, and our business could be harmed. We may develop new product offerings that increase user engagement and costs without increasing revenue.
Additionally, we may make bad or unprofitable decisions regarding these investments. If new or existing competitors offer more attractive product offerings, we may lose users or users may decrease their spending on our product offerings. New customer demands, superior competitive product offerings, new industry standards or changes in the regulatory environment could render our existing product offerings unattractive, unmarketable or obsolete and require us to make substantial unanticipated changes to our technology or business model. Our failure to adapt to a rapidly changing market or evolving customer demands could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Our growth will depend on our ability to attract and retain users, and the loss of our users, failure to attract new users in a cost-effective manner or failure to effectively manage our growth could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Our ability to achieve growth in revenue in the future will depend, in large part, upon our ability to attract new users to our product offerings, retain existing users of our product offerings and reactivate users in a cost-effective manner. Achieving growth in our community of users may require us to increasingly engage in sophisticated and costly sales and marketing efforts, which may not have a favorable return on investment. We have used and expect to continue to use a variety of free and paid marketing channels, in combination with compelling offers and exciting games to achieve our objectives. For paid marketing, we leverage a broad array of advertising channels, including television, radio, social media platforms, such as TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter) and Snapchat, affiliates and paid and organic search, and other digital channels, such as mobile display. If the search engines on which we rely modify their algorithms, change their terms around gaming, or if the prices at which we may purchase listings increase, then our costs could increase, and fewer users may click through to our website. If links to our website are not displayed prominently in online search results, if fewer users click through to our website, if our other digital marketing campaigns are not effective or if the costs of attracting users with any of our current methods significantly increase, then our ability to efficiently attract new users could be reduced, our revenue could decline and our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be harmed.
In addition, our ability to increase the number of users of our product offerings will depend on continued user adoption of Sportsbook, iGaming, DFS, digital lottery courier, prediction markets and other product offerings. Growth in the industries in which we operate and the level of demand for and market acceptance of our product offerings will be subject to a high degree of uncertainty. We cannot assure you that consumer adoption of our product offerings will continue or exceed current growth rates, or that the industries in which we operate will achieve more widespread acceptance.
Additionally, as technological or regulatory standards change and we modify our product offerings to comply with those standards, we may need users to take certain actions to continue playing, such as performing age verification checks or accepting new terms and conditions. Users may stop using our product offerings at any time, including if the quality of the user experience, such as our support capabilities in the event of a problem, does not meet their expectations or keep pace with the quality of the customer experience generally offered by competitive product offerings.
Our core values of focusing on our users first and acting for the long term may conflict with the short-term interests of our business.
One of our operating principles is to put our users first, which we believe is essential to our success and serves the best, long-term interests of the Company and our stakeholders. Therefore, we have made in the past, and we may make in the future, certain investments or changes in strategy that we think will benefit our users, even if our decision negatively impacts our operating results in the short term.
Our business model depends upon the continued compatibility between our apps and the major mobile operating systems and upon third-party platforms for the distribution of our product offerings. If Google Play or the Apple App Store prevents users from downloading our apps or augments the restrictions on advertising to our users, our ability to grow our revenue, profitability and prospects may be adversely affected.
The substantial majority of our users access our Sportsbook, iGaming, DFS, digital lottery courier and prediction markets product offerings primarily on mobile devices, and we believe that this will continue to be increasingly important to our long-term success. Our business model depends upon the continued compatibility between our apps and the major mobile operating systems. Third parties with whom we do not have any formal relationships control the design of mobile devices and operating systems. These parties frequently introduce new devices, and from time to time they may introduce new operating systems or modify existing ones. Network carriers may also impact the ability to download apps or access specified content on mobile devices.
In addition, we rely upon third-party platforms for distribution of our product offerings. Our DFS and prediction markets product offerings are delivered as a free application through both the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store and are also accessible via mobile and traditional websites. Our Sportsbook and iGaming product offerings are primarily distributed through the Apple App Store and a traditional website. Our digital lottery courier product offering is primarily distributed through both the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store and a traditional website. The Google Play Store and Apple App Store are global application distribution platforms and the main distribution channels for our apps. As such, the promotion, distribution and operation of our apps are subject to the respective distribution platforms’ standard terms and policies for application developers, which are subject to changes and interpretation. Such changes could limit, eliminate or otherwise interfere with our products, our ability to distribute our applications through the platforms, our ability to update our applications, including to make bug fixes or other feature updates or upgrades, the features we provide, the manner in which we market our products, our ability to access native functionality, or other aspects of mobile devices, and our ability to access information about our users that they collect. Furthermore, the distribution platforms may not enforce their standard terms and policies for application developers consistently and uniformly across all applications and with all publishers.
There is no guarantee that popular mobile devices will start or continue to support or feature our product offerings, or that mobile device users will continue to use our product offerings rather than competing product offerings. We are dependent on the interoperability of our technology with popular mobile operating systems, technologies, networks and standards that we do not control, such as the Android and iOS operating systems, and any changes, bugs, technical or regulatory issues in such systems, our relationships with mobile manufacturers and carriers, or in their terms of service or policies that degrade our product offerings' functionality, reduce or eliminate our ability to distribute our product offerings, give preferential treatment to competitive product offerings, limit our ability to deliver high quality product offerings, or impose fees or other charges related to delivering our product offerings, could adversely affect our product offering usage and monetization on mobile devices.
Moreover, our Sportsbook, DFS and prediction markets product offerings require high-bandwidth data capabilities in order to place time-sensitive bets. If the growth of high-bandwidth capabilities, particularly for mobile devices, is slower than we expect, our user growth, retention and engagement may be seriously harmed. Additionally, to deliver high-quality content over mobile cellular networks, our product offerings must work well with a range of mobile technologies, systems, networks, regulations and standards that we do not control. In particular, any future changes to the iOS or Android operating systems may impact the accessibility, speed, functionality and other performance aspects of our product offerings, which issues are likely to occur in the future from time to time. In addition, the adoption of any laws or regulations that adversely affect the growth, popularity, or use of the internet, including laws governing internet neutrality, could decrease the demand for our product offerings and increase our cost of doing business. Specifically, any laws that would allow mobile providers in the United States to impede access to content, or otherwise discriminate against content providers like us, such as providing for faster or better access to our competitors, over their data networks, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Furthermore, we may not successfully cultivate relationships with key industry participants or develop product offerings that operate effectively with these technologies, systems, networks, regulations or standards. If it becomes more difficult for our users to access and use our product offerings on their mobile devices, if our users choose not to access or use our product offerings on their mobile devices or if our users choose to use mobile product offerings that do not offer access to our product offerings, our user growth, retention and engagement could be seriously harmed.
In addition, if any of the third-party platforms used for distribution of our product offerings were to limit or disable advertising on their platforms, either because of technological constraints or because the owners of these distribution platforms wished to impair our ability to serve ads on them, our ability to generate revenue could be harmed. Also, technologies have been, and may continue to be, developed by companies, such as Apple and Google, that, among other things, block or limit the display of our advertisements and some or all third-party cookies on mobile and desktop devices, limit cross-site and cross-device attribution, prevent measurement outside a narrowly-defined attribution window and prevent advertisement re-targeting and optimization. These developments could require us to make changes to how we collect information on, and track the
actions of, our users and impact our marketing activities. While these changes have not had a material adverse impact on our business to date, they could materially impact the way we do business in the future, and if we or our advertising partners are unable to quickly and effectively adjust to new changes, there could be an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or prospects.
We may require additional capital to support our growth plans, and such capital may not be available on terms acceptable to us, if at all. This could hamper our growth and adversely affect our business.
We intend to make significant investments to support our business growth and may require additional funds to respond to business challenges, including the need to develop new product offerings and features or enhance our existing product offerings and features, improve our operating infrastructure or acquire complementary businesses, personnel and technologies. Accordingly, we may need to engage in equity or debt financings to secure additional funds, which may involve increased funding costs due to rising interest rates, credit market volatility and other factors. To the extent we use our available funds or borrow under our revolving credit facility or our Term B Facility, we may need to raise additional funds, and we cannot assure you that additional financing will be available to us on favorable terms, or at all. In addition, our ability to borrow under our revolving credit facility or our Term B Facility relies on our lenders’ continued operation and ability to fund, as well as our compliance with the terms of, the credit agreement. Our ability to obtain additional capital, if and when required, will depend on our business plans, investor demand, our operating performance, capital markets conditions, credit ratings agency decisions and other factors. If we raise additional funds by issuing equity, equity-linked or debt securities or borrowing loans, those securities or loans may have rights, preferences or privileges senior to the rights of our currently issued and outstanding equity or debt, and our existing stockholders may experience dilution. If we are unable to obtain additional capital when required, or on satisfactory terms, our ability to continue to support our business growth or to respond to business opportunities, challenges or unforeseen circumstances could be adversely affected, and our business may be harmed.
We may invest in or acquire other businesses, and our business may suffer if we are unable to successfully integrate acquired businesses into our Company or otherwise manage the growth associated with multiple acquisitions.
As part of our business strategy, we have made, and may continue to make, acquisitions as opportunities arise to add new or complementary businesses, products, brands or technologies. In some cases, the costs of such acquisitions may be substantial, including as a result of professional fees, financing costs and due diligence efforts. There is no assurance that the time and resources expended on pursuing a particular acquisition will result in a completed transaction, or that any completed transaction will ultimately be successful. In addition, the assumptions we use to evaluate acquisition opportunities may not prove to be accurate, and intended benefits may not be realized. Our due diligence investigations may fail to identify all of the issues, liabilities or other challenges associated with an acquired business, which could result in increased risk of unanticipated or unknown issues or liabilities, including with respect to privacy, competition and other regulatory matters, and our mitigation strategies for such risks that are identified may not be effective. Further, we may be unable to identify suitable acquisition or strategic investment opportunities, or may be unable to obtain any required financing or regulatory approvals, and therefore may be unable to complete such acquisitions or strategic investments on favorable terms, if at all. We may decide to pursue acquisitions with which our investors may not agree, and we cannot assure you that any acquisition or investment will be successful or otherwise provide a favorable return on investment. In addition, acquisitions and the integration thereof, such as the Jackpocket Transaction (as defined below), require significant time and resources and place significant demands on our management, as well as on our operational and financial infrastructure. In addition, if we fail to successfully complete transactions or integrate new teams, or integrate the products and technologies associated with these acquisitions into our Company, our business could be materially harmed. Acquisitions have exposed, and may continue to, expose us to operational challenges and risks, including:
• the ability to profitably manage acquired businesses or successfully integrate the acquired businesses’ operations, personnel, financial reporting, accounting and internal controls, technologies and products into our business;
• increased indebtedness and the expense of integrating acquired businesses, including significant administrative, operational, economic, geographic or cultural challenges in managing and integrating the expanded or combined operations;
• entry into jurisdictions or acquisition of products or technologies with which we have limited or no prior experience, and the potential of increased competition with new or existing competitors as a result of such acquisitions;
• management challenges involved in maintaining geographically dispersed operations with different business cultures and compensation structures;
• diversion of management’s attention and the over-extension of our operating infrastructure and our management systems, information technology systems and internal controls and procedures, which may be inadequate to support growth;
• the ability to fund our capital needs and any cash flow shortages that may occur if anticipated revenue is not realized or is delayed, whether by general economic or market conditions, or unforeseen internal difficulties; and
• the ability to retain or hire qualified personnel required for expanded operations.
Our acquisition strategy may not succeed if we are unable to remain attractive to target companies or expeditiously complete transactions. Issuing shares of our Class A common stock to fund an acquisition causes economic dilution to our existing stockholders. If we develop a reputation for being a difficult acquirer or having an unfavorable work environment, or target companies view our Class A common stock unfavorably, we may be unable to consummate key acquisition transactions essential to our corporate strategy, and our business may be seriously harmed.
Acquisitions may also disrupt our ongoing business, divert our resources and require significant management attention that would otherwise be available for ongoing development of our current business. In addition, we may be required to make additional capital investments or undertake remediation efforts to ensure the success of our acquisitions, which may reduce the benefits of such acquisitions. We also may be required to use a substantial amount of our cash or issue debt or equity securities to complete an acquisition, which could deplete our cash reserves and/or dilute our existing stockholders.
In addition, there has been, and we expect there will continue to be, significant competition within certain industries in which we operate for acquisitions of businesses, technologies and assets. As such, even if we are able to identify an acquisition that we would like to pursue, the target may be acquired by another strategic buyer or we may otherwise not be able to complete the acquisition on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. Moreover, in addition to our failure to realize the anticipated benefits of any acquisition, including our revenues or return on investment assumptions, we may be exposed to unknown liabilities or impairment charges as a result of acquisitions we do complete.
We are party to pending litigation in various jurisdictions and with various plaintiffs, and we may be subject to future litigation in the operation of our business. An adverse outcome in one or more proceedings could adversely affect our business.
In the past we have been party to, and we may in the future increasingly face the risk of, claims, lawsuits and other proceedings involving competition and antitrust, intellectual property, privacy, consumer protection, accessibility claims, securities, tax, labor and employment, commercial disputes, services and other matters. See “Note 16, Leases, Commitments and Contingencies” to the consolidated financial statements. Litigation to defend us against claims by third parties, or to enforce any rights that we may have against third parties, may be necessary, which could result in substantial costs and diversion of our resources, causing a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Any litigation to which we are a party may result in an onerous or unfavorable judgment that may not be reversed upon appeal, or in payments of substantial monetary damages or fines, the posting of bonds requiring significant collateral, letters of credit or similar instruments, or we may decide to settle lawsuits on similarly unfavorable terms. These proceedings could also result in reputational harm, criminal sanctions, consent decrees or orders preventing us from offering certain product offerings or requiring a change in our business practices in costly ways or requiring development of non-infringing or otherwise altered products or technologies. Litigation and other claims and regulatory proceedings against us could result in unexpected disciplinary actions, expenses and liabilities, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Our business is subject to a variety of U.S. and foreign laws, many of which are unsettled and still developing and which could subject us to claims or otherwise harm our business. Any change in existing regulations or their interpretation, or the regulatory climate applicable to our product offerings and services, or changes in tax rules and regulations or interpretation thereof related to our product offerings and services, could adversely impact our ability to operate our business as currently conducted or as we seek to operate in the future, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
We are generally subject to laws and regulations relating to fantasy sports, sports betting, iGaming, digital lottery courier services and prediction markets in the jurisdictions in which we conduct our business or, in some circumstances, in those jurisdictions in which we offer our services or in which our services are available, as well as the general laws and regulations that apply to all e-commerce businesses, such as those related to privacy and personal information, tax and consumer protection. These laws and regulations vary from one jurisdiction to another and future legislative and regulatory action, court decisions or other governmental action, which may be affected by, among other things, political pressures, attitudes and climates, as well as personal biases, may have a material impact on our operations and financial results. In particular, some jurisdictions have introduced legislation or regulations attempting to restrict or prohibit online sports betting and online gaming,
while others have taken the position that online sports betting and online gaming should be licensed and regulated and have adopted or are in the process of considering enabling legislation and regulations. Additionally, some jurisdictions in which we may operate could presently be unregulated or partially regulated and therefore more susceptible to the enactment or change of laws and regulations.
We offer our DFS product offering in 25 U.S. states that have adopted legislation permitting online fantasy sports. In those states that currently require a license or registration, we have either obtained the appropriate license or registration, have obtained a provisional license, or are operating pursuant to a grandfathering clause that allows operation pending the availability of licensing applications and subsequent grant of a license.
We also operate our DFS product offering in 19 U.S. states, Washington D.C., and all Canadian provinces except Ontario that, in each case, do not have fantasy sports-specific laws or regulations. In those jurisdictions, our business has been, and in the future may be, subject to future legislative and regulatory action, court decisions or other governmental action that could alter or eliminate our ability to operate. For example, in certain states in which we operate, the applicable office of the Attorney General has issued an adverse legal opinion regarding DFS and other fantasy sports. In the event that one of those Attorneys General decides to take action on the opinion from their office, we may have to withdraw our paid DFS operations from such state, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In May 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down PASPA as unconstitutional. This decision had the effect of lifting federal restrictions on sports betting and thus allowed states to determine the legality of sports betting for themselves. Since the repeal of PASPA, several states (and Washington D.C.) have legalized online sports betting. To the extent new real money gaming or sports betting jurisdictions are established or amended, we cannot guarantee that we will be successful in entering such new jurisdictions or expanding our business or user base in line with the growth of existing jurisdictions. If we are unable to effectively develop and operate directly or indirectly within these new jurisdictions or if our competitors are able to successfully enter jurisdictions that we cannot access or where we face other restrictions, there could be a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition. Our failure to obtain or maintain the necessary regulatory approvals in jurisdictions, whether individually or collectively, would have a material adverse effect on our business. See “Business — Government Regulation.” To expand into new jurisdictions, we may need to be licensed and obtain approvals of our product offerings. This is a time-consuming process that can be costly. Any delays in obtaining or difficulty in maintaining regulatory approvals needed for expansion within existing jurisdictions or into new jurisdictions can negatively affect our opportunities for growth, including the growth of our customer base, or delay our ability to recognize revenue from our product offerings in any such jurisdictions.
Further, in June 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed its longstanding approach of judicial deference to administrative interpretations of laws and regulations. This outcome could materially and adversely affect rulemaking and existing agency regulations, and it is uncertain how lower courts will apply the decision in the context of other regulatory schemes without more specific guidance from the U.S. Supreme Court. For example, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision could significantly impact consumer protection, advertising, privacy, artificial intelligence, anti-corruption and anti-money laundering practices and other regulatory regimes with which we are required to comply.
Future legislative and regulatory action, and court decisions or other governmental action, may have a material impact on our operations and financial results. Governmental authorities could view us as having violated local laws, despite our efforts to obtain all applicable licenses or approvals. There is also a risk that civil and criminal proceedings, including class actions, brought by or on behalf of prosecutors or public entities or incumbent monopoly providers, or private individuals, could be initiated against us, internet service providers, credit card and other payment processors, advertisers and others involved in the offering of Sportsbook, iGaming, DFS, digital lottery courier and prediction markets product offerings. Such potential proceedings could involve substantial litigation expense, penalties, fines, seizure of assets, injunctions or other restrictions being imposed upon us or our licensees or other business counterparties, while diverting the attention of key executives. Such proceedings could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects, as well as impact our reputation.
We also operate our prediction markets product offering, which includes various event contracts, in 47 jurisdictions. Event contracts, whether offered by us or others, have drawn scrutiny from federal and state regulators and resulted in litigation. The outcome of these cases or new cases filed, or new laws or regulations applicable to prediction markets, changes in the interpretation of existing laws or regulations, or enhanced enforcement of these laws and regulations could prevent us from offering, or continuing to offer, some or all types of event contracts in the future, including in specific states. In particular, federal or state courts, including appellate courts, among other things may conclude that state actions attempting to prevent the trading of CFTC-regulated event contracts are not preempted by the CEA, or that outcome-based event contracts are not “swaps” falling within the jurisdiction of the CFTC, which could require us to cease offering certain event contracts in one or
more states (or across all jurisdictions in which we operate) and could lead to adverse judicial decisions and regulatory action. Any such judicial decisions could also result in us becoming subject to various new state-specific regulations relating to or implicating other event contracts, which could further limit our ability to offer access to event contracts within such state(s). In addition, any such federal or state court decision or action by state or federal regulators could negatively impact or result in a suspension, revocation of, or any other adverse action against, our IB and DCM licenses and our gaming licenses in the states in which we operate our Sportsbook, or iGaming, DFS or digital lottery courier products, which would limit or suspend our ability to offer such products within such states. Furthermore, changes in CFTC or other regulatory policy or future CFTC regulatory action regarding event contracts that seek to ban or more heavily regulate event contracts, particularly event contracts that we offer related to sporting events, could also require us to cease offering event contracts or materially impact our ability to offer event contracts and we may be required to cease offering such contracts in one or more jurisdictions in which we operate either immediately or with minimal advance notice to customers. In June 2024, the CFTC proposed a rule amendment, which was withdrawn in February 2026 that would have prohibited us from offering election, sporting and award show event contracts in the future. In connection with the withdrawal of the proposed rule amendment, the CFTC Chairman indicated the potential for new event contracts rulemaking in the future. While the substance and outcome of such potential rulemaking is uncertain, the CFTC could take new regulatory action or impose broader and more expansive regulations with respect to these or other event contracts. If our ability to offer event contracts (either entirely or in certain categories) in one or more jurisdictions in which we operate is impaired or our gaming licenses are impacted, the perception of our brand may suffer, we may be unable to retain customers, and we may incur significant costs, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or prospects.
There can be no assurance that legally enforceable legislation will not be proposed and passed in jurisdictions relevant or potentially relevant to our business to prohibit, legislate or regulate various aspects of Sportsbook, iGaming, DFS, digital lottery courier and prediction markets product offerings (or that existing laws or regulations in those jurisdictions will not be changed or interpreted negatively). Compliance with any such legislation may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations, either as a result of our determination that a jurisdiction should be blocked, or because a local license or approval may be costly for us or our business counterparties to obtain and/or such licenses or approvals may contain other commercially undesirable conditions.
Our income tax expense is computed based on tax rates at the time of the respective financial period. Our future effective tax rates, financial condition and results from operations could be unfavorably affected by changes in the tax rates in jurisdictions where our income is earned, by changes in the tax rules and regulations or the interpretation of tax rules and regulations in the jurisdictions in which we do business or by changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets. For example, changes include the enactment of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (“OBBBA”) and implementation by certain jurisdictions of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting 2.0 Pillar Two global minimum tax (“GMT”) developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”). Further, on January 5, 2026, the OECD released administrative guidance detailing a side-by-side arrangement exempting U.S.-incorporated parent companies from certain aspects of the GMT following agreement on key elements by the OECD, which are effective beginning January 1, 2026, subject to country specific enactment. As additional jurisdictions enact or change certain laws, our effective tax rate and cash tax payments could increase.
Compliance with data privacy and security laws and regulations could require us to incur significant expenses, and failure to comply with such laws and regulations could carry penalties and potential criminal sanctions, as well as risk of litigation.
In the context of our European Union ("EU") operations, we may be subject to specific compliance obligations under the GDPR and associated laws and regulations in different EU member states in which we operate. In addition, portions of our business established outside the EU may be required to comply with the requirements of the GDPR and associated EU legislation with respect to the monitoring of individuals in the EU. We may also be subject to the local privacy and data protection laws of the EU member states. Failure to comply with these EU data protection and privacy laws can carry penalties and potential criminal sanctions, as well as the risk of litigation. In addition, Directive 2002/58/EC (as amended by Directive 2009/136/EC) (together, the “e-Privacy Directive”) governs, among other things, the use of cookies and the sending of electronic direct marketing within the EU and, as such, may apply to our marketing activities within the EU. Following Brexit, the United Kingdom (“UK”) has adopted its own data protection and direct marketing laws (the “UK data protection laws”) which are currently based on the corresponding EU legislation. Our UK-facing operations may therefore be subject to specific compliance obligations under the UK data protection laws.
While the UK data protection laws are currently similar to the corresponding EU laws, it is possible that those laws will diverge in the future; to the extent that those laws do diverge, then that may increase the costs of maintaining regulatory compliance. There is also a risk that it may become more difficult to make cross-border transfers of personal data, as a result of diverging data protection regimes in the territories where our customers are located and the territories where our operations are based. If a regulator or court of competent jurisdiction determined that one or more of our compliance efforts does not satisfy
the applicable requirements of the GDPR or the e-Privacy Directive or the UK data protection laws, or if any party brought a claim in this regard, there could be potential governmental or regulatory investigations, enforcement actions, regulatory fines, compliance orders, litigation or public statements against us by consumer advocacy groups or others, and that could cause customers to lose trust in us and damage our reputation. Likewise, a change in guidance could be costly and have an adverse effect on our business.
We may also face similar compliance risks in connection with requirements under North American privacy and data protection laws, including the California Consumer Privacy Act and its implementing regulations, Virginia’s Consumer Data Protection Act and certain other privacy and data protections laws enacted by other jurisdictions from time to time. Non-compliance with such requirements may result in civil penalties and orders that require us to change the way we process data. We are also subject to breach notification laws in the jurisdictions in which we operate and the risk of litigation and regulatory enforcement actions related to data breaches for customers in these jurisdictions.
Our growth prospects depend on the legal status of real-money gaming in various jurisdictions, predominantly within the United States, and legalization may not occur in as many jurisdictions as we expect, or may occur at a slower pace than we anticipate. Additionally, even if jurisdictions legalize real money gaming, this may be accompanied by legislative or regulatory restrictions and/or taxes that make it impracticable or less attractive to operate in those jurisdictions, or the process of implementing regulations or securing the necessary licenses to operate in a particular jurisdiction may take longer than we anticipate, or existing laws or regulations may be changed or interpreted adversely, any of which could adversely affect our future results of operations and make it more difficult to meet our expectations for financial performance.
A number of states have legalized, or are currently considering legalizing, real money online sports betting and iGaming, and our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects are significantly dependent upon such legalization. Our business plan is partially based upon the legalization of real money online sports betting and iGaming for a specific percentage of the U.S. population on a yearly basis and such rate of legalization may not occur as we have anticipated. Additionally, if a large number of additional jurisdictions or the federal government enact real money sports betting or iGaming legislation and we are unable to obtain, or are otherwise delayed in obtaining, the necessary licenses to operate online sports betting or iGaming websites in such jurisdictions, our future growth in online sports betting and iGaming could be materially impaired. Furthermore, for those jurisdictions that have enacted real-money sports betting or iGaming laws or regulations, such laws and regulations could be amended or interpreted adversely, which could impose additional restrictions or costs that could have an adverse effect on our business.
As we enter into new jurisdictions, the relevant jurisdiction may legalize real money sports betting and iGaming in a manner that is unfavorable to us. As a result, we may encounter unexpected legal, regulatory and political challenges, which could result in an unforeseen adverse impact on planned revenues or costs associated with the new opportunity. For example, certain states require us to have a relationship with a retail operator in order to offer our online sportsbook product offering, which tends to increase our costs of revenue. States that have established state-run monopolies may limit opportunities for private sector participants like us. States also impose substantial tax rates on online sports betting and iGaming revenue in addition to, in the case of online sports betting, the federal excise tax of 25 basis points on the amount of each wager. As most state product taxes apply to various measures of modified gross profit, federal or state tax rates that are higher than we expect will make it more costly and less desirable for us to launch in a given jurisdiction, while tax increases in any of our existing jurisdictions may adversely impact our profitability.
Therefore, even in cases in which a jurisdiction licenses and regulates Sportsbook, iGaming, DFS, digital lottery couriers or prediction markets, the licensing and regulatory regimes can vary considerably in terms of their business-friendliness and at times may be intended to provide incumbent operators with advantages over new licensees. Therefore, certain “liberalized” regulatory regimes are considerably more commercially attractive than others.
Failure to comply with regulatory requirements in a particular jurisdiction, or the failure to successfully obtain a license or permit applied for in a particular jurisdiction, could impact our ability to comply with licensing and regulatory requirements in other jurisdictions, or could cause the rejection of license applications or cancellation of existing licenses in other jurisdictions, or could cause financial institutions, online and mobile platforms, advertisers and distributors to stop providing services to us which we rely upon to receive payments from, or distribute amounts to, our users, or otherwise to deliver and promote our product offerings and services.
Compliance with the various regulations applicable to fantasy sports and real money sports betting, iGaming and prediction markets is costly and time-consuming. Regulatory authorities at the non-U.S. and U.S. federal, state and local levels have broad
powers with respect to the regulation and licensing of fantasy sports, real money gaming operations and prediction markets and may revoke, suspend, condition or limit our fantasy sports or real money gaming licenses, access to prediction markets, impose substantial fines on us and take other actions, any one of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. These laws and regulations are dynamic and subject to potentially differing interpretations, and various legislative and regulatory bodies may expand current laws or regulations or enact new laws and regulations regarding these matters. We endeavor to comply with all applicable laws and regulations relating to our business. It is possible, however, that these requirements may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent from one jurisdiction to another and may conflict with other rules. Non-compliance with any such law or regulations could expose us to claims, proceedings, litigation and investigations by private parties and regulatory authorities, as well as substantial fines and negative publicity, each of which may materially and adversely affect our business.
Any fantasy sports or real money gaming license or access to prediction markets could be revoked, suspended or conditioned at any time. The loss of a license in one jurisdiction could trigger the loss of a license or affect our eligibility for such a license in another jurisdiction, and any of such losses, or potential for such loss, could cause us to cease offering some or all of our product offerings in the impacted jurisdictions. We may be unable to obtain or maintain all necessary registrations, licenses, permits or approvals and could incur fines or experience delays related to the licensing process, which could adversely affect our operations. Our delay or failure to obtain or maintain licenses in any jurisdiction may prevent us from distributing our product offerings, increasing our customer base and/or generating revenues. We cannot assure you that we will be able to obtain and maintain the licenses and related approvals necessary to conduct our Sportsbook, iGaming, DFS, digital lottery courier and prediction markets operations. Any failure to maintain or renew our existing licenses, registrations, permits or approvals could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Our growth prospects and market potential will depend on our ability to obtain licenses to operate in a number of jurisdictions, and if we fail to obtain and subsequently maintain such licenses, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be impaired.
Our ability to grow our business will depend on our ability to obtain and maintain licenses to offer our product offerings in a large number of jurisdictions or in heavily populated jurisdictions. Regulated gaming license applications and audits frequently involve an in-depth suitability review of the applicant’s business and operations and associated individuals including certain officers, directors, key employees and significant stockholders. These applications and audits take substantial time to prepare, submit and complete, often requiring the production of multiple years’ worth of business and personal financial records and disclosures which take considerable time to compile, followed by the regulator’s investigatory process which may take months or even years to complete. If we fail to obtain and maintain licenses in large jurisdictions or in a greater number of mid-market jurisdictions, this may prevent us from expanding the footprint of our product offerings, increasing our user base and/or generating revenues. We cannot be certain that we will be able to obtain and maintain licenses and related approvals necessary to conduct our Sportsbook, iGaming, DFS, digital lottery courier and prediction markets operations in a timely manner or at all. Any failure to obtain and maintain licenses, registrations, permits or approvals could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We have been, and continue to be, the subject of governmental investigations and inquiries with respect to the operation of our businesses, and we could be subject to future governmental investigations and inquiries, legal proceedings and enforcement actions. Any such investigation, inquiry, legal proceeding or enforcement action could adversely affect our business.
We have received formal and informal inquiries, from time to time, from government authorities and regulators, including tax authorities and gaming regulators, regarding compliance with laws and other matters, and we may receive such inquiries in the future, particularly as we grow and expand our operations. Violation of existing or future regulations, regulatory orders or consent decrees could subject us to substantial monetary fines and other penalties that could negatively affect our financial condition and results of operations. In addition, it is possible that future orders issued by, or inquiries or enforcement actions initiated by, government or regulatory authorities could cause us to incur substantial costs, expose us to unanticipated liability or penalties or require us to change our business practices in a manner materially adverse to our business.
Participation in the sports betting industry exposes us to trading, liability management and pricing risk. We may experience lower than expected profitability and potentially significant losses as a result of a failure to determine accurately the odds in relation to any particular event and/or any failure of our sports risk management processes due to a variety of factors beyond our control.
Our fixed-odds betting product offerings involve betting where winnings are paid on the basis of the stake placed and the odds quoted. Odds are determined with the objective of providing an average return to the bookmaker over a large number of events and therefore, over the long term, our gross win percentage has remained fairly constant. However, there can be significant variation in gross win percentage event-by-event and day-by-day. We have systems and controls that seek to reduce the risk of daily losses occurring on a gross-win basis, but there can be no assurance that these will be effective in reducing our exposure, and consequently our exposure to this risk in the future. As a result, in the short term, there is less certainty of generating a positive gross win, and we have from time to time experienced, and may in the future experience, significant losses with respect to individual events or betting outcomes, in particular if large individual bets are placed on an event or betting outcome or series of events or betting outcomes. Odds compilers and risk managers are capable of human error, thus even allowing for the fact that a number of betting products are subject to capped pay-outs, significant volatility can occur. In addition, it is possible that there may be such a high volume of trading during any particular period that even automated systems would be unable to address and mitigate all risks. Any significant losses on a gross-win basis could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. In addition, if a jurisdiction where we hold or wish to apply for a license imposes a high turnover tax for betting (as opposed to a gross-win tax), this would also impact profitability, particularly with high value/low margin bets, and likewise have a material adverse effect on our business.
Palpable (obvious) errors in Sportsbook odds making may occasionally occur in the normal course of business, sometimes for large liabilities. While it is a worldwide standard business practice to void bets associated with palpable errors or to correct the odds, there is no guarantee regulators will approve voiding palpable errors in every case.
Our Sportsbook offers a huge spectrum of betting markets across dozens of sports, and the odds are set through a combination of algorithmic and manual odds making. Bet acceptance is also a combination of automatic and manual acceptance. In some cases, the odds offered on our Sportsbook constitute an obvious error. Examples of such errors are inverted lines between teams, or odds that are significantly different from the true odds of the outcome in a way that all reasonable persons would agree is an error. It is generally commonplace worldwide for operators to void bets associated with such palpable errors, and, in most mature jurisdictions, these bets can be voided without regulatory approval at operator discretion. In some U.S. jurisdictions where DraftKings operates regulatory approval is required to void palpable errors. State-by-state regulators may not consistently approve the voiding of bets or re-setting odds to correct odds on such bets. If regulators do not allow voiding of bets associated with large obvious errors in odds making, we could be subject to covering significant liabilities.
We follow the industry practice of restricting and managing betting limits at the individual customer level based on individual customer profiles and risk level to the enterprise; however, there is no guarantee that jurisdictions will allow operators such as us to limit on the individual customer level.
It is customary for sports betting operators to manage customer betting limits at the individual level to manage enterprise risk levels. We believe this practice is beneficial overall, because if it were not possible, betting options would be restricted globally and limits available to customers would be much lower to insulate overall risk due to the existence of a small segment of highly sophisticated syndicates and algorithmic bettors, or bettors looking to take advantage of errors and omissions on our platforms. We believe virtually all operators balance taking reasonable action from all customers against the risk of individual customers significantly harming business viability. We cannot assure you that all state legislation and regulators will always allow operators to execute limits at the individual customer level, or at their sole discretion.
Negative events or negative media coverage relating to, or a declining popularity of, sports betting, online sports betting, DFS, prediction markets, the underlying sports or athletes, or iGaming in particular, or other negative coverage may adversely impact our ability to retain or attract users, which could have an adverse impact on our business.
Public opinion can significantly influence our business. Unfavorable publicity regarding us, for example, our product changes, product quality, litigation or regulatory activity or regarding the actions of third parties with whom we have relationships or the underlying sports (including declining popularity of the sports or athletes), could seriously harm our reputation. In addition, a negative shift in the perception of sports betting, iGaming and prediction markets by the public or by politicians, lobbyists or others could affect future legislation of sports betting, iGaming and prediction markets, which could cause jurisdictions to abandon proposals to legalize sports betting, iGaming and prediction markets, thereby limiting the number of jurisdictions in which we are permitted to operate. Furthermore, illegal betting activity by athletes could result in negative publicity for our industry and could harm our brand reputation. Negative public perception could also lead to new restrictions on, or the prohibition of, sports betting, iGaming or prediction markets in jurisdictions in which we currently operate. Such negative publicity could also adversely affect the size, demographics, engagement and loyalty of our customer base and result in decreased revenue or slower user growth rates, which could seriously harm our business.
We may have difficulty accessing the service of banks, credit card issuers and payment processing service providers, which may make it difficult to offer our product offerings and services.
Although financial institutions and payment processors are permitted to provide services to us and others in our industry, banks, credit card issuers and payment processing service providers may be hesitant to offer banking and payment processing services to real money gaming and fantasy sports businesses. Consequently, those businesses involved in our industry, including our own, may encounter difficulties in establishing and maintaining banking and payment processing relationships with a full scope of services. If we are unable to maintain our bank accounts or our users are unable to use their credit cards, bank accounts or e-wallets to make deposits and withdrawals from our product offerings, it would make it difficult for us to operate our business, increase our operating costs, and pose additional operational, logistical and security challenges which could result in an inability to implement our business plan.
Failure to maintain adequate financial, information technology and management processes and controls could result in material weaknesses and lead to errors in our financial reporting, which could adversely affect our business as a public company.
As a public company, we are required to maintain internal control over financial reporting and to report any material weaknesses in such internal controls. Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“Sarbanes-Oxley”) requires that we evaluate and determine the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. It also requires our independent registered public accounting firm to attest to our evaluation of our internal control over financial reporting with our Annual Report. Although our management has determined, and our independent registered public accounting firm has attested, that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2025, we cannot assure you that we or our independent registered public accounting firm will not identify a material weakness in our internal controls in the future. Maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting is necessary for us to produce reliable financial reports and is important in helping to prevent financial fraud.
Our current controls and any new controls that we develop may become inadequate because of poor design and changes in our business, including increased complexity resulting from any expansion. Any failure to implement and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting could adversely affect the results of assessments by our independent registered public accounting firm and their attestation reports.
If we are unable to certify the effectiveness of our internal controls, or if our internal controls have a material weakness, we may not detect errors in a timely fashion, our consolidated financial statements could be misstated or we could be subject to regulatory scrutiny and a loss of confidence by stakeholders, which could harm our business and adversely affect the market price of our common stock. Failure to comply with Section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley could potentially subject us to sanctions or investigations by the SEC, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) or other regulatory authorities, as well as increase the risk of liability arising from litigation based on securities law.
Continued growth and success will depend on the performance of our current and future employees, including certain key employees. Recruitment and retention of these individuals is vital to growing our business and meeting our business plans. The loss of any of our key executives or other key employees could harm our business.
We depend on a limited number of key personnel to manage and operate our business, including DraftKings’ co-founders, our Chief Financial Officer and our Chief Legal Officer. The leadership of these key personnel has been, and we expect will continue to be, a critical element of our success. The departure, death or disability of any one of our executive officers or other extended or permanent loss of any of their services, or any negative market or industry perception with respect to any of them or their loss, could have a material adverse effect on our business. We are not protected by key man or similar life insurance covering executive officers or members of senior management.
In addition, certain of our other employees have made significant contributions to our growth and success. We believe our success and our ability to compete and grow will depend in large part on the efforts and talents of our employees and on our ability to retain highly skilled personnel. There is significant competition for these types of personnel, and we compete with other potential employers for the services of our employees. As a result, we may not succeed in retaining our executives and other key employees. Employees, particularly analysts and engineers, are in high demand, and we devote significant resources to identifying, hiring, training, successfully integrating and retaining these employees. In addition, experienced personnel in the technology industry are in high demand. We cannot provide assurance that we will be able to attract or retain such highly qualified personnel in the future. In addition, the loss of employees or the inability to hire additional skilled employees as necessary could result in significant disruptions to our business, and the integration of replacement personnel could be time-
consuming and expensive and cause additional disruptions to our business. If we do not succeed in attracting, hiring and integrating qualified personnel, or retaining and motivating existing personnel, we may be unable to grow effectively, and our business could be seriously harmed.
All of our named executive officers are employees-at-will. The unexpected loss of services of one or more of these key employees, or failure to manage executive succession successfully, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
In some jurisdictions our key executives, certain employees or other individuals related to the business are, and will continue to be, subject to licensing or compliance requirements. Failure by such individuals to obtain the necessary licenses or comply with individual regulatory obligations could cause the business to be non-compliant with its obligations, or imperil its ability to obtain or maintain licenses necessary for the conduct of the business. In some cases, the remedy to such situation may require the removal of a key executive or employee and the mandatory redemption or transfer of such person’s equity securities.
As part of obtaining real money gaming licenses, the responsible gaming authority will generally determine suitability of certain directors, officers and employees and, in some instances, significant stockholders. The criteria used by gaming authorities to make determinations as to who requires a finding of suitability or the suitability of an applicant to conduct gaming operations varies among jurisdictions but generally requires application disclosures followed by a thorough investigation. If any gaming authority with jurisdiction over our business were to find an applicable officer, director, employee or significant stockholder of ours unsuitable for licensing or unsuitable to continue having a relationship with us, we would be required to sever our relationship with that person or entity. Furthermore, such gaming authorities may require us to terminate the employment of any person who refuses to file required applications. Either result could have a material adverse effect on our business, operations and prospects.
In addition, our amended and restated articles of incorporation provide that any of our common stock or other equity securities owned or controlled by any stockholder whom the Board of Directors of the Company (the “Board of Directors” or the “Board”) determines in good faith (following consultation with reputable outside gaming regulatory counsel), pursuant to a resolution adopted by the unanimous affirmative vote of all of the disinterested members of our Board of Directors, is an unsuitable person, will be subject to mandatory sale and transfer to either us or one or more third-party transferees.
Additionally, a gaming regulatory body may refuse to issue or renew a gaming license or restrict or condition the same, based on our present activities or the past activities of DraftKings, SBTech (Global) Limited (“SBTech”) or GNOG, or the past or present activities of their or our current or former directors, officers, employees, stockholders or third parties with whom we have relationships, which could adversely affect our operations or financial condition. If additional gaming regulations are adopted in a jurisdiction in which we operate, such regulations could impose restrictions or costs that could have a significant adverse effect on us. From time to time, various proposals are introduced in the legislatures of some of the jurisdictions in which we have existing or planned operations that, if enacted, could adversely affect our directors, officers, key employees or other aspects of our operations. To date, we have obtained all governmental licenses, findings of suitability, registrations, permits and approvals necessary for our operations as currently conducted. However, we can give no assurance that any additional licenses, permits and approvals that may be required will be given or that existing ones will be renewed or will not be revoked. Renewal of licenses, permits and approvals are subject to, among other things, continued satisfaction of suitability requirements of our directors, officers, key employees and stockholders. Any failure to renew or maintain our licenses or to receive new licenses when necessary would have a material adverse effect on us.
Due to the nature of our business, we are subject to taxation in a number of jurisdictions and changes in, or new interpretations of, tax laws, tax rulings or their application by tax authorities could result in additional tax liabilities and could materially affect our financial condition and results of operations. We have been, and continue to be, subject to periodic audits and examinations by the IRS, as well as state and local taxing authorities, the results of which may materially impact our financial statements in the period in which the audit or examination occurs.
Our tax obligations are varied and include U.S. federal, state and local taxes and international taxes due to the nature of our business. The tax laws that are applicable to our business are subject to interpretation, and significant judgment is required in determining our worldwide provision for income taxes. In the course of our business, there are many transactions and calculations where the ultimate tax determination is uncertain. For example, compliance with the 2017 United States Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “TCJA”) required the collection of information not regularly produced within our Company, the use of estimates in our consolidated financial statements and the exercise of significant judgment in accounting for its provisions.
The gaming industry also represents a significant source of tax revenue to the jurisdictions in which we operate. Gaming companies and business-to-business providers in the gaming industry (directly and/or indirectly by way of their commercial relationships with operators) are currently subject to significant taxes and fees in addition to normal corporate income taxes, and such taxes and fees are subject to increase at any time. From time to time, various legislators and other government officials have proposed and adopted changes in tax laws, or in the administration or interpretation of such laws, affecting the gaming industry. In addition, worsening of economic conditions and the large number of jurisdictions with significant current or projected budget deficits could intensify the efforts of governments to raise revenues through increases in gaming taxes and/or other taxes. It is not possible to determine with certainty the likelihood of changes in tax laws or in the administration or interpretation or enforcement of such laws. Any material increase, or the adoption of additional taxes or fees, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Additionally, tax authorities may impose indirect taxes on internet-related commercial activity based on existing statutes and regulations which, in some cases, were established prior to the advent of the internet. Tax authorities may interpret laws originally enacted for mature industries and apply it to newer industries, such as the online sports betting and iGaming industries. The application of such laws may be inconsistent from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Our in-jurisdiction activities may vary from period to period which could result in differences in nexus from period to period.
We have been, and continue to be, subject to periodic review and audit by domestic and foreign tax authorities. Tax authorities may disagree with certain positions that we or our predecessors have taken or that we will take, and any adverse outcome of such a review or audit could have a negative effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Although we believe that our tax provisions, positions and estimates are reasonable and appropriate, tax authorities may disagree with certain positions we have taken. In addition, economic and political pressures to increase tax revenue in various jurisdictions may make resolving tax disputes favorably more difficult.
For example, we are currently under audit by the IRS for prior tax years, with the primary unresolved issues relating to excise taxation of fantasy sports contests and informational reporting and withholding. These IRS examinations are premised, in whole or in part, on whether DFS contests constitute “wagering” for purposes of the Internal Revenue Code. The IRS’s position in these examinations is informed by a Generic Legal Advice Memorandum released by the Office of the Chief Counsel of the IRS in 2020, which concluded that a DFS operator is liable for federal wagering excise taxes at a rate of 0.25% or 2% (depending on whether the wager is accepted in a state which authorizes such wager), as well as occupational excise taxes and related registration requirements. Based on these positions, the IRS has asserted that our DFS entry fees are subject to a federal wagering excise tax at a rate of 0.25%, certain customer winnings should have been reported as wagering income on IRS Form W-2G, we are liable for related withholding obligations, including backup withholding in certain circumstances, and wagering winnings earned by non-U.S. participants may constitute U.S.-source income subject to U.S. withholding tax.
The final resolution of that audit, and other audits or litigation, may differ from the amounts recorded in our consolidated financial statements included herein and may materially affect our consolidated financial statements in the period or periods in which that determination is made.
Failure to protect or enforce our intellectual property rights or the costs involved in such enforcement could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We rely on trademark, copyright, patent, trade secret, and domain-name-protection laws to protect our proprietary rights. In the United States and internationally, we have filed various applications to protect aspects of our intellectual property, and currently hold a number of issued patents and registered trademarks in multiple jurisdictions. In the future we may obtain additional patents or patent portfolios, copyrights or trademarks, which could require significant cash expenditures. However, third parties may knowingly or unknowingly infringe our proprietary rights, third parties may challenge proprietary rights held by us and pending and future trademark, copyright and patent applications may not be approved. In addition, effective intellectual property protection may not be available in every country in which we operate or intend to operate our business. In any of these cases, we may be required to expend significant time and expense to prevent infringement or to enforce our rights. There can be no assurance that others will not offer products or services that are substantially similar to ours and compete with our business.
Circumstances outside our control could pose a threat to our intellectual property rights. For example, effective intellectual property protection may not be available in all jurisdictions in which our Sportsbook, iGaming, DFS, digital lottery courier and prediction markets product offerings are accessible. Also, the efforts we have taken to protect our proprietary rights may not be sufficient or effective. Any significant impairment of our intellectual property rights could harm our business or our ability to compete. Also, protecting our intellectual property rights is costly and time-consuming. Any unauthorized disclosure or use of our intellectual property could make it more expensive to do business, thereby harming our operating results. Furthermore, if we are unable to protect our proprietary rights or prevent unauthorized use or appropriation by third parties, the value of our
brand and other intangible assets may be diminished, and competitors may be able to more effectively mimic our product offerings and services. Any of these events could have a material adverse impact on our business.
We rely on licenses to use the intellectual property rights of third parties which are incorporated into our product offerings and services. Failure to renew or expand existing licenses may require us to modify, limit or discontinue certain product offerings, which could materially affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We rely on products, technologies and intellectual property that we license from third parties for use in our product offerings. Substantially all of our product offerings and services use intellectual property licensed from third parties. The future success of our business depends, in part, on our ability to obtain, retain and/or expand licenses for popular technologies and games in a competitive market. We cannot assure you that these third-party licenses, or support for such licensed products and technologies, will continue to be available to us on commercially reasonable terms, if at all. In the event that we cannot renew and/or expand existing licenses, we may be required to discontinue or limit our use of the product offerings that include or incorporate the licensed intellectual property.
Some of our license agreements contain minimum guaranteed royalty payments to the third party. If we are unable to generate sufficient revenue to offset the minimum guaranteed royalty payments, it could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, cash flows and financial condition. Our license agreements generally allow for assignment in the event of a strategic transaction but contain some limited termination rights post-assignment. Certain of our license agreements grant the licensor rights to audit our use of their intellectual property. Disputes with licensors over uses or terms could result in the payment of additional royalties or penalties by us, cancellation or non-renewal of the underlying license or litigation.
The regulatory review process and licensing requirements also may preclude us from using technologies owned or developed by third parties if those parties are unwilling to subject themselves to regulatory review or do not meet regulatory requirements. Certain gaming authorities require gaming manufacturers to obtain approval before engaging in certain transactions, such as acquisitions, mergers, reorganizations, financings, stock offerings and stock repurchases. Obtaining such approvals can be costly and time consuming, and we cannot assure you that such approvals will be granted or obtained on acceptable terms, or at all, or that the approval process will not result in delays or disruptions to our strategic objectives.
Our insurance may not provide adequate levels of coverage against claims.
We maintain insurance that we believe is customary for businesses of our size and type. However, there are types of losses we may incur that cannot be insured against or that we believe are not economically reasonable to insure. Moreover, we cannot be sure our existing insurance coverage – including coverage for errors and omissions – will continue to be available on acceptable terms or that our insurers will not deny coverage as to all or part of any future claim or loss. Any loss incurred could exceed policy limits and policy payments made to us may not be made on a timely basis. Such losses could adversely affect our business prospects, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition.
Our non-U.S. operations expose us to certain foreign currency transaction risks. As a result, changes in the valuation of the U.S. dollar in relation to other currencies could have positive or negative effects on our profit and financial position.
Our non-U.S. operations expose us to foreign currency transaction risks. Currency transaction risk occurs in conjunction with purchases and sales of products and services that are made in currencies other than the local currency of the subsidiary involved, for example if the parent company pays or transfers U.S. dollars to a subsidiary in order to fund its expenses in local currencies. As a result, our non-U.S. operations historically have been, and will continue to be, exposed to currency transaction risk relating to adverse movements in foreign currency exchange rates, which may adversely impact our financial positions and results of operations.
Our functional currency is the U.S. dollar, and as a result, we will be subject to foreign currency fluctuation due to operations by subsidiaries in non-U.S. jurisdictions, including Canada, and the fact that certain of our revenues, operating expenses and assets and liabilities are non-U.S. dollar denominated. For example, an increase in the value of non-U.S. dollar currencies against the U.S. dollar could increase costs for delivery of products and services and also increase cost of local operating expenses and procurement of materials or services that we must purchase in foreign currencies by increasing labor and other costs that are denominated in such local currencies. These risks related to exchange rate fluctuations may increase in future periods in the event that our non-U.S. operations expand. In 2025 and 2024, our exposure to foreign currency transaction risk was not material. While we do not otherwise hedge our foreign exchange exposure, we may consider doing so in the future.
Foreign currency exchange rate volatility, as well as the cost of any hedging arrangements entered into in the future, may negatively affect our financial position and results of operations, and may adversely impact the comparability of results between periods.
Risk Factors Relating to Our Indebtedness
We have substantial debt outstanding and may incur additional debt.
As of December 31, 2025, our total long-term debt was approximately $1,835.6 million, net of issuance costs. Our debt levels could have significant consequences, including, among others:
• making it more difficult to satisfy our obligations;
• a dilutive effect on our outstanding equity capital or future earnings;
• increasing our vulnerability to general adverse economic conditions and industry conditions, including inflation and interest rate volatility, and actual or perceived instability in the global banking sector;
• requiring us to devote a substantial portion of our cash to make payments on our debt, thereby reducing the amount of cash available for other purposes. As a result, we would have limited financial and operating flexibility in responding to changing economic and competitive conditions;
• limiting our ability to raise additional debt because it may be more difficult for us to obtain debt financing on attractive terms; and
• placing us at a disadvantage compared to our competitors that are less leveraged.
In addition, we may incur substantial additional debt in the future. The terms of the indenture governing our zero-coupon convertible senior notes in an aggregate principal amount of $1,265.0 million, which includes proceeds from the full exercise of the over-allotment option (collectively, the “Convertible Notes”), and the credit agreement with various financial institutions as lenders and issuing banks, as amended by the first amendment, dated March 4, 2025, which provides the Company with a revolving line of credit of up to $500.0 million , under which $10.0 million in letters of credit were issued with $490.0 million available for borrowing as of December 31, 2025, and incremental term loans in an aggregate principal amount of $600.0 million, under which $595.5 million aggregate principal amount was outstanding as of December 31, 2025, permit us to incur additional debt, subject to certain limitations set forth therein. If new debt is incurred in addition to our current debt levels, the foregoing risks may be augmented.
The conditional conversion features of the Convertible Notes, if triggered, may adversely affect our financial condition and operating results.
In the event the conditional conversion features of the Convertible Notes are triggered, holders of the Convertible Notes will be entitled to convert the Convertible Notes at any time during specified periods at their option. If one or more holders elect to convert their Convertible Notes, unless we elect to satisfy our conversion obligation by delivering solely shares of our Class A common stock, we would be required to make cash payments to satisfy all or a portion of our conversion obligation based on the conversion rate, which could adversely affect our liquidity. In addition, even if holders do not elect to convert their Convertible Notes, we could be required under applicable accounting rules to reclassify all or a portion of the outstanding principal of the Convertible Notes as a current rather than long-term liability, which could result in a material reduction of our net working capital.
The Capped Call Transactions may affect the value of the Convertible Notes and our Class A common stock.
In connection with the issuance of the Convertible Notes, we entered into privately negotiated capped call transactions (the “Capped Call Transactions”) with certain counterparties (the “Hedge Counterparties”). The Capped Call Transactions are expected to reduce the potential dilution to the holders of our Class A common stock and/or offset potential cash payments we are required to make in excess of the principal amount upon conversion of the Convertible Notes. In connection with establishing its initial hedge of a Capped Call Transaction, the applicable Hedge Counterparty and/or its affiliates may have purchased shares of our Class A common stock and/or entered into various derivative transactions with respect to our Class A common stock concurrently with or shortly after the pricing of the Convertible Notes.
This activity may increase (or reduce the size of any decrease in) the market price of our Class A common stock or the Convertible Notes at that time. In addition, each Hedge Counterparty or an affiliate thereof may modify its hedge position by entering into or unwinding various derivatives with respect to our Class A common stock and/or purchasing or selling our Class
A common stock or other securities of ours in secondary market transactions prior to the maturity of the Convertible Notes (and are likely to do so during any observation period related to a conversion of Convertible Notes). Any of these activities could cause or prevent an increase or decline in the market price of our Class A common stock or the Convertible Notes. In addition, if the Capped Call Transactions fail to become effective, each Hedge Counterparty may unwind its hedge position with respect to our Class A common stock, which could adversely affect trading in and the value of our Class A common stock and the value of the Convertible Notes.
We are subject to counterparty risk with respect to the Capped Call Transactions.
The Hedge Counterparties to the Capped Call Transactions are financial institutions, and we will be subject to the risk that the Hedge Counterparties may default or otherwise fail to perform, or may exercise certain rights to terminate, their obligations under the Capped Call Transactions. Our exposure to the credit risk of the Hedge Counterparties under the Capped Call Transactions will not be secured by any collateral. In the past, economic conditions have resulted in the actual or perceived failure or financial difficulties of a number of financial institutions, including the bankruptcy of Silicon Valley Bank. If a Hedge Counterparty becomes subject to insolvency proceedings, we will be an unsecured creditor in those proceedings with a claim equal to our exposure at that time under our transactions with them. Our exposure will depend on many factors. Generally, the increase in our exposure will be correlated to the increase in the market price and in the volatility of our Class A common stock. In addition, as a result of a default by any counterparty to the Capped Call Transactions, we may suffer more dilution than we currently anticipate with respect to our Class A common stock. We can provide no assurances as to the financial stability or viability of any counterparty under the Capped Call Transactions.
Risk Factors Relating to Our Common Stock
The trading price of our Class A common stock has been, and will likely continue to be, volatile and you could lose all or part of your investment.
The trading price of our Class A common stock has been, and will likely continue to be, volatile and subject to wide fluctuations in response to various factors, some of which are beyond our control. Any of the factors listed below could have a material adverse effect on your investment in our Class A common stock, and our Class A common stock may trade at prices significantly below the price you paid for them. In such circumstances, the trading price of our securities may not recover and may experience a further decline.
Factors affecting the trading price of our Class A common stock may include, among others:
• actual or anticipated fluctuations in our quarterly financial results or the quarterly financial results of companies perceived to be similar to us;
• changes in the market’s expectations about our operating results;
• success of competitors;
• lack of adjacent competitors;
• our operating results failing to meet the expectations of securities analysts or investors in a particular period;
• changes in financial estimates and recommendations by securities analysts concerning DraftKings or the industries in which we operate in general;
• operating and stock price performance of other companies that investors deem comparable to us;
• our ability to market new and enhanced product offerings and services on a timely basis;
• changes in laws and regulations affecting our business;
• commencement of, or involvement in, litigation involving us;
• changes in our capital structure, such as future issuances of securities or the incurrence of additional debt;
• the volume of shares of our Class A common stock available for public sale;
• any major change in our Board of Directors or management;
• our stock repurchase program;
• sales of substantial amounts of our Class A common stock by our directors, executive officers or significant stockholders or the perception that such sales could occur; and
• general economic and political conditions such as recessions, volatile inflation and interest rates, actual or perceived instability in the global banking sector, fuel prices, international currency fluctuations and acts of war or terrorism.
Broad market and industry factors may materially harm the market price of our Class A common stock irrespective of our operating performance. The stock market in general, and securities traded on The Nasdaq Stock Market in particular, have experienced price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of the affected companies. The trading prices and valuations of these stocks, and of our Class A common stock, may not be predictable. A loss of investor confidence in the market for the stocks of other companies which investors perceive to be similar to us could depress our stock price regardless of our business, prospects, financial conditions or results of operations. A decline in the market price of our Class A common stock also could adversely affect our ability to issue additional securities and our ability to obtain additional financing in the future.
Sales of substantial amounts of Class A common stock in the public market, or the perception that such sales may occur, could cause the market price for our Class A common stock to decline.
The sale of shares of our Class A common stock in the public market, or the perception that such sales could occur, could harm the prevailing market price of shares of our Class A common stock. These sales, or the possibility that these sales may occur, also might make it more difficult for us to sell equity securities in the future at a time and at a price that we deem appropriate.
There were a total of 495.1 million shares of our Class A common stock outstanding as of December 31, 2025. In addition, we have reserved shares of Class A common stock for issuance under the DraftKings Inc. 2020 Incentive Plan (the “Incentive Plan”) and under the DraftKings Employee Stock Purchase Plan (the “ESPP”). Additionally, each of our Incentive Plan and ESPP currently provide for an automatic increase in the number of shares that will be reserved for issuance. Any shares of Class A common stock that we issue under our Incentive Plan, ESPP or other equity incentive plans that we may adopt in the future would dilute the percentage ownership held by holders of Class A common stock.
In connection with the completion of the Business Combination Agreement, dated December 22, 2019, as amended on April 7, 2020, the acquisition of GNOG pursuant to a definitive agreement and plan of merger, dated August 9, 2021, in an all stock transaction (the “GNOG Transaction”) and equity offerings by the Company, we, our executive officers and directors and selling stockholders entered into agreements restricting their ability to sell their shares of Class A common stock. As restrictions on resale end or if these stockholders exercise their sale, exchange or registration rights and sell shares or are perceived by the market as intending to sell shares, the market price of our shares of Class A common stock could drop significantly. These factors could also make it more difficult for us to raise additional funds through future offerings of our shares of Class A common stock or other securities.
In the future, we may also issue securities in connection with investments, acquisitions or capital raising activities. In particular, the number of shares of our Class A common stock issued in connection with an investment or acquisition, or to raise additional equity capital, could constitute a material portion of our then-outstanding shares of our Class A common stock. Any such issuance of additional securities in the future may result in additional dilution to you or may adversely impact the price of our Class A common stock.
We may be required to take write-downs or write-offs, restructuring and impairment or other charges that could have a significant negative effect on our financial condition, results of operations, prospects and stock price, which could cause you to lose some or all of your investment.
We may be forced to write down or write off assets, restructure our operations, or incur impairment or other charges that could result in losses. Even though these charges may be non-cash items and not have an immediate impact on our liquidity, the fact that we report charges of this nature could contribute to negative market perceptions about us or our securities. In addition, charges of this nature may cause us to violate net worth or other covenants to which we may be subject. Accordingly, a stockholder could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares of Class A common stock.
The coverage of our business or our Class A common stock by securities or industry analysts or the absence thereof could adversely affect our securities and trading volume.
The trading market for our Class A common stock is influenced in part by the research and other reports that industry or securities analysts publish about us or our business or industry from time to time. We do not control these analysts, or the content and opinions included in their reports. Analysts who publish information about our securities may have had relatively little experience with our Company given our limited history as a public company, which could affect their ability to accurately forecast our results and make it more likely that we fail to meet their estimates. If analysts that cover our securities cease coverage, downgrade our securities or if they issue other unfavorable commentary about us or our industry or inaccurate
research, our stock price would likely decline. Furthermore, if one or more of these analysts cease coverage or fail to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets. Any of the foregoing would likely cause our stock price and trading volume to decline.
Because we are a “controlled company” under The Nasdaq Stock Market listing standards, our stockholders may not have certain corporate governance protections that are available to stockholders of companies that are not controlled companies.
So long as more than 50% of the voting power for the election of directors of DraftKings Inc. is held by an individual, a group or another company, we will qualify as a “controlled company” under The Nasdaq Stock Market listing requirements. Mr. Robins controls a majority of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock. As a result, we are a “controlled company” under The Nasdaq Stock Market listing standards and are not subject to the requirements that would otherwise require us to have: (i) a majority of independent directors; (ii) a nominating committee comprised solely of independent directors; (iii) compensation of our executive officers determined by a majority of the independent directors or a compensation committee comprised solely of independent directors; and (iv) director nominees selected, or recommended for the Board’s selection, either by a majority of the independent directors or a nominating committee comprised solely of independent directors.
Mr. Robins may have his interest in DraftKings diluted due to future equity issuances or his own actions in selling shares of Class A common stock, in each case, which could result in a loss of the “controlled company” exemption under The Nasdaq Stock Market listing rules. We would then be required to comply with those provisions of The Nasdaq Stock Market listing requirements.
Our dual class structure has the effect of concentrating voting power with our Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, which limits an investor’s ability to influence the outcome of important transactions, including a change in control.
Shares of our Class B common stock are entitled to 10 votes per share, while shares of our Class A common stock are entitled to one vote per share. Mr. Robins, our Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, holds all of the issued and outstanding shares of our Class B common stock. Accordingly, Mr. Robins holds approximately 89% of the voting power of our capital stock and will be able to control matters submitted to our stockholders for approval, including the election of directors, amendments of our organizational documents and any merger, consolidation, sale of all or substantially all of our assets or other major corporate transactions. Mr. Robins may have interests that differ from yours and may vote in a way with which you disagree, and which may be adverse to your interests. This concentrated control may have the effect of delaying, preventing or deterring a change in control of DraftKings, could deprive our stockholders of an opportunity to receive a premium for their capital stock as part of a sale of DraftKings and might ultimately affect the market price of shares of our Class A common stock.
Our dual class structure may affect the trading price of our Class A common stock.
Our dual class structure may result in volatility in the market price of our Class A common stock whether due to adverse publicity or reaction from institutional or other investors or proxy advisory firms. For example, certain index providers have announced restrictions on including companies with multiple-class share structures in certain of their indices. In July 2017, FTSE Russell and S&P Dow Jones announced that they would cease to allow most newly public companies with dual or multi-class capital structures to be included in their indices. Beginning in 2017, MSCI Inc. (“MSCI”), a leading stock index provider, opened public consultations on their treatment of no-vote and multi-class structures and temporarily barred new multi-class listings from certain of its indices; however, in October 2018, MSCI announced its decision to include equity securities “with unequal voting structures” in its indices and to launch a new index that specifically includes voting rights in its eligibility criteria. In 2023, S&P Dow Jones updated the share class eligibility rule to allow companies with multiple share class structures to be included in the S&P Composite 1500 Index and its component indices, including the S&P 500. After this rule change by S&P Dow Jones, the Russell 2000 has, and other indices may have, limitations on inclusion based on multiple share class structures. Under the announced policies, our dual class capital structure would make us ineligible for inclusion in certain indices, and as a result, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds and other investment vehicles that attempt to passively track those indices will not be investing in our stock. These policies are still fairly new, and it is as of yet unclear what effect, if any, they will have on the valuations of publicly traded companies excluded from the indices, but it is possible that they may depress these valuations compared to those of other similar companies that are included. Because of our dual class structure, we have been and will likely continue to be excluded from certain of these indexes, and we cannot assure you that other stock indexes will not take similar actions. Given the sustained flow of investment funds into passive strategies that seek to track certain indexes, exclusion from stock indexes would likely preclude investment by many of these funds and could make shares of our Class A common stock less attractive to other investors. As a result, the market price of shares of our Class A common stock could be adversely affected.
Nevada law and provisions of our amended and restated articles of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws could make a takeover proposal more difficult.
Our organizational documents are governed by Nevada law. Certain provisions of Nevada law and of our amended and restated articles of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws could discourage, delay, defer or prevent a merger, tender offer, proxy contest or other change of control transaction that a stockholder might consider in its best interest, including those attempts that might result in a premium over the market price for the shares of Class A common stock held by our stockholders. These provisions provide for, among other things:
• the ability of our Board of Directors to issue one or more series of preferred stock;
• stockholder action by written consent only until the first time when Mr. Robins ceases to beneficially own a majority of the voting power of our capital stock;
• certain limitations on convening special stockholder meetings;
• advance notice for nominations of directors by stockholders and for stockholders to include matters to be considered at our annual meetings;
• amendment of certain provisions of the organizational documents only by the affirmative vote of (i) a majority of the voting power of our capital stock so long as Mr. Robins beneficially owns shares representing a majority of the voting power of our capital stock and (ii) at least two-thirds of the voting power of the capital stock from and after the time that Mr. Robins ceases to beneficially own shares representing a majority of the voting power of our voting stock; and
• a dual class common stock structure, which provides Mr. Robins with the ability to control the outcome of matters requiring stockholder approval, even though Mr. Robins owns less than a majority of the outstanding shares of our capital stock.
These anti-takeover provisions, as well as certain provisions of Nevada law, could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire DraftKings, even if the third party’s offer may be considered beneficial by many of our stockholders. As a result, our stockholders may be limited in their ability to obtain a premium for their shares of Class A common stock. If prospective takeovers are not consummated for any reason, we may experience negative reactions from the financial markets, including negative impacts on the price of our Class A common stock. These provisions could also discourage proxy contests and make it more difficult for our stockholders to elect directors of their choosing and to cause us to take other corporate actions.
Our amended and restated articles of incorporation designate the Eighth Judicial District Court of Clark County, Nevada as the exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by our stockholders, which could limit stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, employees or agents.
Our amended and restated articles of incorporation require that, to the fullest extent permitted by law, and unless we otherwise consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Eighth Judicial District Court of Clark County, Nevada (or if the Eighth Judicial District Court of Clark County, Nevada does not have jurisdiction, any other state district court located in the State of Nevada, and if no state district court in the State of Nevada has jurisdiction, any federal court located in the State of Nevada), will be the exclusive forum for each of the following:
• any action or proceeding brought in the name or right of DraftKings or on its behalf;
• any action asserting a claim for breach of any fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer, employee or agent of DraftKings to DraftKings or its stockholders;
• any action asserting a claim arising pursuant to any provision of NRS Chapters 78 or 92A, our amended and restated articles of incorporation or our amended and restated bylaws;
• any action to interpret, apply, enforce or determine the validity of our amended and restated articles of incorporation or our amended and restated bylaws; or
• any action asserting a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine.
The exclusive forum provision provides federal courts located in the State of Nevada as the forum for suits brought to enforce any duty or liability for which Section 27 of the Exchange Act establishes exclusive jurisdiction with the federal courts, or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction. In addition, Section 22 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), provides that federal and state courts have concurrent jurisdiction over lawsuits brought
under the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. To the extent the exclusive forum provision restricts the courts in which claims arising under the Securities Act may be brought, there is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce such a provision. We note that investors cannot waive compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. Although we believe this provision will benefit DraftKings by providing increased consistency in the application of Nevada law in the types of lawsuits to which it applies, the provision may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers.
Stock repurchases under our stock repurchase program are discretionary, and we cannot guarantee that our stock repurchase program will achieve the desired objectives. Stock repurchases diminish our cash reserves and could also increase the volatility of the trading price of our Class A common stock.
On July 30, 2024, our Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of an aggregate of up to $1.0 billion of our Class A common stock. On November 6, 2025, our Board of Directors approved a $1.0 billion increase to our existing stock repurchase authorization, which brings the aggregate stock repurchase authorization to $2.0 billion of our Class A common stock. We may make repurchases of our Class A common stock through open market purchases, privately negotiated transactions or other transactions in accordance with applicable securities laws, subject to market conditions and other factors. The stock repurchase program does not obligate us to acquire any specific number or amount of Class A common stock and may be terminated at any time. We cannot guarantee that the program will be fully consummated, that it will enhance long-term stockholder value or that it will successfully mitigate the dilutive effect of employee equity awards. Any repurchases will reduce the amount of cash we have available to fund working capital, capital expenditures, strategic acquisitions or business opportunities and other general corporate requirements. In addition, the program could affect the trading price of our Class A common stock and increase volatility, and any announcement of a termination of this program may result in a decrease in the trading price of our Class A common stock.
