DraftKings enjoyed a large advantage over FanDuel in daily fantasy football in the fifth week of the NFL season, painting the same picture as the previous four.
The top-line figures at DraftKings and FanDuel
According to a sampling of the publicly viewable NFL contests from Oct. 2-8, DraftKings realized about $3.6 million in revenue.
The sample included guaranteed prize pools and non-guaranteed contests, but not head-to-head contests. (The sample does not account for any free entries the site may have given out, which would not be visible.)
The site generated more than $31 million in entry fees, aka handle. That figure is down about a million dollars for a similar sample from the previous week. (Revenue was down about $400,000.) But it is still well clear of FanDuel.
The No. 2 DFS site, however, pretty much held steady week over week for the third straight week. FanDuel had about $16 million in handle and $2.2 million in revenue.
The above figures do not include revenue or handle from other sports. Once again, there were more than eight million entries made across the two sites for NFL contests, but total entries were down from Week 4.
Sunday only
Here is the snapshot for a sample of only contests that started on Sunday:
- DraftKings: $23 million handle, $2.7 million revenue
- FanDuel $13 million handle, $1.7 million revenue
Like the total week, numbers at both sites were down from the previous Sunday.
Prior weeks for NFL at DraftKings and FanDuel
| DraftKings handle | DraftKings revenue | FanDuel handle | FanDuel revenue | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | NA | $1.3 million | NA | $700,000 |
| Week 2 | $25 million | $2.8 million | $16 million | $2.1 million |
| Week 3 | $29 million | $3.3 million | $17 million | $2.1 million |
| Week 4 | $32 million | $4 million | $16 million | $2.2 million |
| Week 5 | $31 million | $3.6 million | $16 million | $2.2 million |
| Week 6 | $32 million | $4.1 million | $18 million | $2.8 million |
| Week 7 | $28 million | $3.2 million | $16 million | $2.3 million |
| Week 8 | $27 million | $2.9 million | $15 million | $2.2 million |
| Week 9 | $25 million | $3 million | $15 million | $2.3 million |
| Week 10 | $27 million | $3.2 million | $15 million | $2.4 million |
| Week 11 | $27 million | $3.2 million | $14 million | $2.2 million |
| Week 12 | $38 million | $4.5 million | $22 million | $3.2 million |
| Week 13 | $26 million | $2.9 million | $16 million | $2.4 million |
| Week 14 | $25 million | $3 million | $17 million | $2.3 million |
Looking ahead to NFL Week 6
DraftKings’ Millionaire Maker gets slightly smaller, down $250,000 to $4 million guaranteed. FanDuel followed suit, downsizing the Sunday Million guarantee to $2 million (down $200,000).
DraftKings now offers two contests bigger than FanDuel’s largest. And the top five contests at FanDuel guarantee less than the Millionaire Maker. Here are the five biggest NFL contests at each:
| DraftKings | FanDuel | |
|---|---|---|
| Contest guarantee (entry fee) | $4 million ($20) | $2 million ($7) |
| Contest guarantee (entry fee) | $2.2 million ($444) | $500,000 ($33) |
| Contest guarantee (entry fee) | $1.5 million ($3) | $500,000 ($150) |
| Contest guarantee (entry fee) | $800,000 ($5) | $444,000 ($333) |
| Contest guarantee (entry fee) | $600,000 ($1,500) | $400,000 ($1,590) |
The NBA season starts next week, and daily fantasy basketball is just as important to the sites in terms of revenue and volume. It will be interesting to see if that added dynamic changes the flow of money for football at the two sites.
Image credit: Abdul Razak Latif / Shutterstock.com
