Senate Bill Just Made DraftKings Untouchable

ports betting incumbents like DraftKings may have just gotten their own moat. After a bipartisan Senate bill targeting sports betting contracts on prediction markets hit the tape, DraftKings traded up. The market is effectively pricing the bill as a competitive win—crimping regulated rivals like Kalshi and Polymarket while leaving licensed sportsbooks untouched, reinforcing DraftKings’ regulatory barriers. Context matters. DraftKings is still down 50% over the past year, after a 30% slide into late 2025 on profitability and regulatory worries—even as trailing twelve-month revenue pushed above roughly $5.4B. Recent quarters showed 40–45% YoY revenue growth, paying users roughly flat at 4.8M, and average revenue per user up 40%+ to around $140—signaling deeper monetization of the existing base rather than pure user growth. This wasn’t just a DraftKings move: Flutter and MGM were also up as the market leans into a “regulated scale wins” dynamic. With the global sports betting market expected to grow significantly and gambling broadly projected to exceed $600B in 2026 revenue, this bill tilts economics back toward licensed operators with the balance sheets and compliance budgets.