- Daily fantasy sports revenue declined substantially month-over-month, signaling the end of the NFL season and the the start of the quieter spring and summer months.
- DraftKings remains top dog in the market, though its lead over Fanduel shrunk considerably.
- Yahoo returns a the clear third in the market, taking in over $1 million in entry fees for the very first time.
Daily fantasy sports revenue in the state of Pennsylvania declined substantially month-over-month in January, signaling the end of the NFL season and the start of the quieter spring and summer months in US sports.
Come May, when the market celebrates one year of regulated DFS, year-over-year comparisons will be possible and it will provide the first real indicators of market health. Until then, month-by-month comparatives can only describe these regular seasonal fluctuations.
Among the two dominant DFS providers, Fanduel and DraftKings, the latter continues to lead the market, though its edge diminished significantly in January: In terms of entry fees collected, DraftKing’s $8.98 million only leads Fanduel’s $8.39 million by 6.6%—in prior months, this margin has been 10% or more.
Yahoo returns as the clear third in the market, taking in over $1 million in entry fees for the very first time (indeed, it is more than double its previous best, suggesting the operator has made serious inroads with customers so far in 2019). It also enjoyed a gross win margin of 3.6%, a nice return to profit after last month, where it gave back 15% more in prize money than it took in in entry fees.
Fanduel and DraftKings also enjoyed a slightly bigger margin in January—12% and 11.5%, respectively—each a percentage point higher than December.
The Pennsylvania tax man collected $317.5k in revenue in January. In the nine months since the market opened, the state has collected over $2.5 million from regulated DFS activity.
