DraftKings gets out begging bowl to fund sports betting plans

Daily fantasy sports operator DraftKings is getting out its begging bowl once again, this time to fund its single-game sports betting aspirations.

On Monday, political and business news site Axios reported that DraftKings was talking to investors about launching yet another funding round. The company is reportedly seeking between $150m and $200m to have its new single-game sports betting operation up and running before the kickoff of this year’s National Football League season.

For the record, this will be the tenth time since 2012 that DraftKings has sought to raffle off a piece of itself in order to grow its business. The most recent round in March 2017 raised nearly $119m. According to Crunchbase data, DraftKings has raised over $715m to date via these funding rounds.

Despite the sports betting hubbub, Axios reported that DraftKings is telling investors that it expects DFS to remain its primary revenue engine for the foreseeable future, given expectations that the state-by-state rollout of legal wagering across the US will not move swiftly.