For years, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992, commonly referred to as PASPA, restricted sports betting to a handful of states. In a landmark decision, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the law, paving the way for the expansion of legal wagering on a state-by-state basis. In less than a decade, a majority of the U.S. states already offer legal sports betting, creating unique opportunities for sports leagues while enabling bettors to place wagers legally. The expansion of legal sports betting saw two betting and gaming companies establish themselves as leaders in the country’s market, taking a significant share of the betting handle and action. That’s the case for FanDuel and DraftKings, a duo that holds between 70% and 80% of the betting market share in the country. Considering the popularity of FanDuel and DraftKings, the two companies often prompt users to search how did DraftKings start and is FanDuel number one bookmaker. On the other hand, sports fans and bettors alike question why is DraftKings so popular, while some ask when was FanDuel founded.
DraftKings: the second-largest betting company in the United States
The journey of DraftKings began as a daily fantasy sports (DFS) provider. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, the company was founded in 2012 by Jason Robins, Matthew Kalishand Paul Liberman. In 2013, DraftKings received an investment by Major League Baseball (MLB), bolstering its DFS operations. One of the major milestones for the company came early in 2014 when it confirmed it had awarded $50m in prizes throughout 2013 to players participating in daily fantasy sports. Maintaining a growth trajectory, DraftKings completed a $41m funding round in August 2014, while later that same year, it struck a major DFS services deal with the National Hockey League (NHL). The company then inked a similar agreement with MLB in April 2015. In July 2015, DraftKings confirmed a $300m funding round. The investment was led by Fox Sports, Kraft Group and Wellington Management. After PASPA was ruled unconstitutional in 2018, DraftKings didn’t wait and entered one of the most important gambling markets in the United States, New Jersey. There, the company rolled out its first online sportsbook. A couple of years later, in April 2020, DraftKings became a publicly traded company through a reverse merger valued at the mind-blowing sum of $3.3bn. The merger was completed with the help of a SPAC (special-purpose acquisition company) called Diamond Eagle Acquisition Corp., and a Europe-based betting and technology company, SBTech Global Ltd. In the years that followed, DraftKings expanded its presence across the country, entering one state after another. While its betting expansion made it one of the top companies in the vertical, after posting losses in 2024, DraftKings secured a $500m loan that propelled its growth. In February this year, DraftKings posted its 2025 financial results, highlighting it closed the year on a high note. The company posted Q4 revenue of nearly $2bn, marking an increase year-over-year of 43%. Equally as important, the total revenue in 2025 soared to $6.05bn, recording a significant uptick when compared to the $4.77bn result in 2024. Throughout last year, DraftKings also posted strong growth in terms of unique customers using its platform, which hit 10.9m in Q4 2025. Focusing on the future, DraftKings said it plans to maintain its focus on prediction markets, vowing to deploy capital to build the best predictions customer experience and acquire millions of customers.
FanDuel sits at the helm of U.S. betting as the country's #1 sportsbook
FanDuel’s success story is similarly exciting. The company was founded more than a decade ago, in 2009, in Edinburgh, Scotland. FanDuel was founded by Nigel Eccles, Lesley Eccles, Tom Griffiths, Chris Stafford and Rob Jones. The predecessor of FanDuel was a news prediction website called Hubdub, but it didn’t take long for the founders to realize that their model wasn’t sustainable, which is why the company pivoted to DFS. Transitioning to DFS, FanDuel raised $1.2m as capital funding from Scottish Enterprise and Pentech Ventures. Then, in 2013, 2014 and 2015, the company announced a Series C, Series D and Series E funding rounds, which raised $11m, $70m and $275m, respectively. In less than a decade after it was founded, FanDuel was already valued at more than $1.0bn. DraftKings and FanDuel considered merging late in 2016. At the time, the combined entity would’ve served more than 5 million customers. However, the merger captured the attention of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which looked into the matter. Consequently, the FTC said in June 2017 that it would propose a preliminary injunction against the planned merger, citing concerns that the combined company would have 90% of the DFS market share, or effectively establish a monopoly. Later on, the plans for the merger fell through. Just ahead of the PASPA repeal, the Irish bookmaker, Paddy Power Betfair, now known as Flutter Entertainment, confirmed its intention to acquire FanDuel. The complex merger sought to unite the company’s Paddy Power Betfair US operations with FanDuel and create a company with significant potential for growth in the betting vertical in the country. On July 11, 2018, FanDuel and Paddy Power Betfair’s US-facing operations merged, creating FanDuel Group. Similar to DraftKings, FanDuel opened its first branded sportsbook in New Jersey at the Meadowlands Racetrack shortly after the merger. As of December 2020, Flutter Entertainment increased its stake in FanDuel Group to 95% in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $4.1bn. More recently, in November 2025, FanDuel entered the prediction markets vertical with the launch of its platform in five states. 2025 brought significant success to FanDuel. The company reported 5% year-over-year average monthly player growth and 33% increase in US revenue in Q4 2025. Reinforcing its leadership, the company posted 41% sportsbook GGR share and 28% iGaming GGR share. In a statement released via LinkedIn, Amy Howe, FanDuel’s CEO, explained: These results demonstrate the strength of FanDuel, which has helped to deliver an estimated 70% share of market EBITDAsince 2018. We expanded FanDuel Predicts nationwide in January, launching in 18non-OSB states and unlocking a meaningful new growth opportunity. Early engagement has been encouraging.
U.S. betting industry to maintain a growth trajectory
The dominance of FanDuel and DraftKings in the U.S. iGaming and betting vertical is evident based on their strong position in markets across the country. While the two companies started their expansion as DFS providers, they both gradually expanded while constantly competing. In the last few years, while the competition between FanDuel and DraftKings remains, their significant market share in iGaming and betting makes them unquestionable leaders in the United States. Based on their current growth trajectory, the duo, which stands behind the duopoly model, as it is often described by media outlets, is likely to continue to grow. According to a newly released report from the world’s leading source for international market research and market data, Research and Markets, the U.S. sports betting market is expected to surge in a few years time. The recent report suggests the betting industry in the country is going through a transformative phase that is primarily driven by technological advancements, evolving regulatory landscapes and shifting consumer behaviors. Per Research and Markets’ data, the U.S. betting industry has grown from $91.97bn in 2025 to $102.16bn in 2026. The same research data suggests the betting industry in the United States will continue to grow, reaching $205.64bn by 2032, driven by a 12.18% CAGR. This growth underscores continued momentum in user engagement and revenue, fueled by progressive policy developments and swift technology adoption, the report reads. In this context, FanDuel and DraftKings, who sit at the helm of the betting vertical in the country, are likely going to capitalize on this expansion. Maintaining dominance, the two companies remain each other’s biggest rivals, at least for the moment.
