Updated

Jason Robins

American

CEO
DraftKings

Jason Robins is an iGaming and digital sports betting executive who co-founded fantasy sports and sports betting company DraftKings, serving at its CEO. His career helped kickstart the digital sports betting industry in the US.
Education
  • Duke University

MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS

Robins built DraftKings from the ground up alongside Matt Kalish and Paul Liberman. He says the company grew faster than he imagined. When DraftKings launched in 2012, Robins was living in one of his co-founders’ spare bedrooms. Starting with just the three founders, DraftKings grew into an international organisation with more than 2,000 employees worldwide.

One year after launching DraftKings as a fantasy sports league, Major League Baseball invested in the business – the first time a professional sport invested in a fantasy league. That year, the company gave out $50m in prizes.

By 2014, the company had one million registered players and more than 50,000 daily active users. DraftKings then acquired rival fantasy leagues DraftStreet and StarStreet.

DraftKings began its foray into online sports betting in 2018, the same year the US struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA), which allows states to choose to legalise sports betting. The company opened its first sportsbook in New Jersey, and now operates sportsbooks in Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming and counting...

Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, DraftKings went public in April 2020 with an estimated market capitalisation of $3.3bn. The company grew its market cap to $12bn by August of the same year. The operator also launched its first online casino in 2022, featuring slots, blackjack and roulette.

In 2021, DraftKings was runner-up for the Digital Operator of the year at the Global Gaming Awards. The brand continues to expand, acquiring Golden Nugget Online Gaming in May 2022.

AWARDS

At the Global Gaming Awards Las Vegas 2023, Robins finished runner-up in the American Executive of the Year category.

The Award recognised, among other factors, DraftKings' strong performance in 2023, which saw it catch FanDuel in some regions, as it later reported $790m in Q3 revenue while edging closer towards profitability.

EMPLOYMENT

Before co-founding DraftKings, Robins launched his career as a team member at Setem Technologies, a tech company specialising in voice recognition software.

In 2003, Robins began working for Capital One in its Marketing and Analysis department. In 2008, he moved on to the e-commerce company Vistaprint, working in Marketing and Analytics.

In 2012, inspired by his love of sports and statistics, Robins launched DraftKings alongside Matt Kalish and Paul Liberman.

In March 2023, following commentary on continued high revenue for DraftKings but continually high losses, too, Robins took to Twitter to defend his company's outlook and performance.

Interviews and public speeches

In September 2020, Robins was interviewed by Gaming America for its US CEO Special publication.


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