DraftKings bolsters iCasino offerings through expanded partnership with Bragg

DraftKings will have more online casino options as part of an extended deal with Bragg Gaming, the two groups announced Monday.

The deal includes a new content and tech partnership for added online casino gaming for DraftKings customers in New Jersey, according to a release. This includes access to popular online casino offerings under Bragg’s Atomic Slot Lab studio.

“The launch of our new proprietary and exclusive third-party content with DraftKings in New Jersey demonstrates the continued success of our initiative to expand existing relationships with leading North American iGaming operators,” Bragg COO Lara Falzon said in a statement.

Deal details

Bragg launched its proprietary Remote Game Server (RSG) tech last year in Michigan through its partnership with DraftKings in the Wolverine State. The Toronto-based iGaming tech provider also has deals with DraftKings in Pennsylvania and Connecticut.

Though New Jersey has fallen behind New York as the nation’s highest-grossing regulated online sports betting market, it remains a leading online casino gaming state. New Jersey is projected to generate $1.8bn in gross win just in 2023, according to Bragg and a report from H2 Gambling Capital.

Along with a presence in all but one regulated competitive iGaming market (West Virginia), Bragg has B2C partnerships with iGaming operators in Ontario as well as the UK, Germany, Malta and several other countries.

“The rollout of our new RGS technology and content in the market with DraftKings is an important step forward in expanding the availability of our new U.S. content to a new group of players in one of the country’s largest iCasino markets,” Falzon said in a release.

DraftKings grows iCasino

Along with FanDuel and BetMGM, DraftKings is one of the top three US online casino gaming and sports betting operators by market share. However, it trails FanDuel in sports betting market share and BetMGM in iCasino share.

Online casino offerings such as digital slots and table games have significantly higher hold percentages than sportsbooks. DraftKings CEO Jason Robins – along with multiple other leading gaming industry figures – have pushed lawmakers to legalize these games.

Only New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan and West Virginia have full competitive online casino gaming markets. Connecticut has a duopoly, split between DraftKings and FanDuel while Delaware, the only other legal US iGaming jurisdiction, has one regulated platform run by the state lottery.

DraftKings acquired Golden Nugget Online Gaming in 2021 for $1.56bn in all-stock deal to bolster its own iGaming platform. DraftKing stock is down more than 25% over the past 12 months, tracing similar declines in the overall gaming sector as well as the stock market overall during that time.

DraftKings has lost more than $3.5bn due to extensive player acquisition spending since the Supreme Court Struck down the federal wagering ban in May 2018. The daily fantasy sports operator turned sportsbook and digital casino purveyor expects to lose more than $500m more in calendar year 2023.

Like its competitors, DraftKings hopes these massive expenditures will keep long-term sports bettors and, more significantly, convert them into iCasino players.

However, while lawmakers in more than 30 states have approved some sort of legal sports betting, online casino gaming has proven far more politically challenging. New York and Indiana are among a handful of states that are set to take up iCasino legalization bills in 2023, but like much of the rest of the country, these proposals face long odds.