That could have caused a major headache for MGM Resorts International, but the bid ultimately collapsed due to various issues, including the complications regarding the BetMGM Sportsbook joint venture. DraftKings then launched an audacious $22.4 billion bid to buy Entain, the co-owner of BetMGM.
In August 2021, it agreed to acquire Golden Nugget Online for nearly $1.6 billion in stock. The company’s market valuation soared, leaving it flush with cash. It then switched from the Kambi platform to SBTech. Two years later, DraftKings Sportsbook merged with white-label sportsbook provider SBTech - and a special purpose acquisition company - and became publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. When the Supreme Court overturned PASPA, the law that banned sports betting outside of Las Vegas, in 2018, DraftKings added an online sportsbook powered by Kambi. By 2018, DraftKings was a household name across the country, having invested heavily in marketing campaigns to promote its popular contests, which flourished before sports betting was legalized. It launched its first DFS contest in 2012 around the start of the MLB season. Entrepreneurs Jason Robbins, Matt Kalish and Paul Liberman created DraftKings back in 2012, and it initially operated out of Liberman’s house.
