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DraftKings
DKNG,
has completed its purchase of Golden Nugget Online Gaming for $1.56 billion in the company’s latest move to boost revenue and lower costs.
“We anticipate that this acquisition will provide meaningful revenue uplift by utilizing our data-driven marketing capabilities and a dual brand iGaming strategy, gross margin improvement opportunities, and cost savings across external marketing and SG&A,” DraftKings CEO Jason Robins said in a statement. “I am proud to welcome the Golden Nugget Online Gaming team to the DraftKings family.”
The move will allow sports betting and online gaming DraftKings to expand its iGaming product offerings, and increase the new company’s marketing efficiency, the DraftKings announcement claims.
DraftKings is purchasing the business from billionaire restaurant-maven Tillman Fertitta. The acquisition is for Golden Nugget’s online gaming business, and doesn’t include any brick-and-mortar Golden Nugget casinos, which will continue to be owned by Fertitta Entertainment.
DraftKings has been in talks to acquire the online gaming portion of Golden Nugget’s business since 2021.
The acquisition comes amid a tumultuous year for DraftKings. In recent months, the company’s stock plummeted to a new 52-week low, prompting Robins to call out people selling his company’s stock as people who will “regret that decision more than any other decision you’ve ever made in your life.”
In February, DraftKings disclosed that Robins’s total compensation in 2021 was $14.03 million, down from $236.83 million in 2020.
At several points, Robins has indicated he is taking a long-term view with DraftKings.
“It’s a wild market right now. I think what we’re doing has been very consistent since day one,” Robins said in February. “I think the model’s working, and we’ll play the long game here.”
Shares of DraftKings Inc. were down 10.82% during Thursday’s trading amid a broad market selloff that led to the Dow dropping more than 1,000 points. DraftKings is down 72.86% over the last 12 months, compared to 1.61% drop for S&P 500
SPX,
Index over that same period.
