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SportsTranscript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:03 - All right, let's talk about Pick Six here.
00:05 There may be some people unfamiliar with this, Matthew,
00:07 maybe we should catch them up too,
00:08 but DraftKings Pick Six has been removed from Maryland,
00:11 still available in other states.
00:13 But how is this different
00:15 than the actual DraftKings account?
00:17 - Yeah, so if you remember, Craig,
00:20 we've been talking about these DFS companies
00:22 like PrizePicks and Underdogs
00:24 who are taking a different approach to daily fantasy sports.
00:28 And they're offering something that looks an awful lot
00:30 like a sports betting prop bet.
00:32 You can go in and just select,
00:34 is this guy gonna go over or under yards?
00:36 Is this guy gonna go over or under points, blocks and steals?
00:40 And it's all very standard stuff
00:43 that you would be able to find
00:44 on pretty much any sports betting app out there.
00:47 DraftKings launched this Pick Six standalone product,
00:52 which is basically exactly that as well
00:55 to continue competing on that level.
00:58 Now, what's interesting here
01:01 is that DraftKings told us that they had
01:05 in-depth conversations with every regulator
01:09 that they wanted to go into that market
01:11 and that there was an understanding across the board.
01:15 Maryland was an interesting state for them to pick,
01:18 to want to launch with,
01:20 because Maryland was actually proactive
01:22 in telling PrizePicks and Underdogs of the world
01:26 that they could not operate those parlay products
01:31 in Maryland.
01:32 It happened right before they launched online sports betting.
01:34 And they said, look, we simply don't want this to compete
01:37 with the sports betting product
01:39 that we're about to roll out.
01:41 So I was surprised for a couple of reasons.
01:43 One, that DraftKings would try to launch there
01:45 and two, that Maryland said it was okay.
01:48 It turns out that it actually wasn't okay.
01:50 Once they saw the product and how it looked
01:53 and how it worked and how it operated,
01:55 they said, no, this is too close to sports betting
01:59 and we're not gonna have it.
02:01 And it's a larger issue that's happening
02:03 around the country, Greg,
02:04 and it's honestly gonna be one of the biggest stories
02:06 of this year to find out which states
02:10 are going to allow this kind of Daily Fantasy Sport Contest
02:14 to continue and which states are not.
02:16 We're already getting bans in states
02:18 like Michigan and New York.
02:20 We just got a Virginia Attorney General opinion
02:23 that it looks an awful lot like sports betting.
02:25 So this is something that we're gonna keep an eye on,
02:28 but it's really interesting that DraftKings said,
02:32 hey, whatever, we can launch that too.
02:34 Because when you think about it,
02:35 when you look at the states that they went live in,
02:37 they're live in California, they're live in Georgia,
02:40 they're live in Oklahoma, they're live in South Carolina.
02:44 Well, what do the states have in common, Greg?
02:46 No sports betting.
02:48 So they don't wanna be right out in the cold
02:50 when these DFS players in those states,
02:55 they, let's face it, they want to be doing more
02:59 of a sports betting-like contest.
03:02 And so if these other companies are going to offer that,
03:05 that's gonna cut down on DraftKings' market share.
03:07 And then whenever those states eventually
03:09 do legalize sports betting,
03:12 they're not gonna have as robust of a customer pipeline.
03:14 So they had to do something.
03:16 And it was clear that this was something
03:18 that made shareholders happy.
03:20 And it was the right move.
03:23 They were called a little hypocritical for doing it,
03:26 but I don't know that you can necessarily
03:29 be hypocritical in business
03:30 when it just comes down to making money, Greg.
03:33 So we're keeping an eye on this.
03:35 We want to see which other states
03:38 are gonna take issue with this,
03:41 maybe what other states are not letting DraftKings in.
03:44 But the fact that DraftKings has launched
03:46 their own product like this now,
03:49 it is bringing a bigger spotlight to the issue for sure.
03:52 (upbeat music)
03:55 [MUSIC]