March Madness proved to be extremely lucrative for sportsbooks across the country. In New Jersey, in particular, FanDuel and DraftKings enjoyed extra bonuses, with FanDuel taking a larger piece of the sports pie. The collegiate basketball tournament helped propel FanDuel ahead in the race and it doesn’t appear that its lead is going to slip anytime soon.
DraftKings was the first to offer a sportsbook in New Jersey when it launched its operations in August. FanDuel followed a month later and both companies were out of the starting blocks. By the end of the year, they were both running neck and neck.
DraftKings took the first three months that had both operators in the race. It recorded revenue of just over $20 million compared to FanDuel’s $8 million to have a solid lead. In December and January, however, the lead narrowed substantially as FanDuel began to close the gap. In those two months, DraftKings maintained a lead of less than $1 million, a huge jump forward for FanDuel.
Now, FanDuel has pulled ahead. In February, FanDuel’s sportsbook operations earned $6.86 million – DraftKings only picked up $3.72 million. March, driven by March Madness, saw FanDuel reach $13.22 million compared to the $7.28 million of DraftKings.