{"id":129988,"date":"2020-03-15T13:22:12","date_gmt":"2020-03-15T20:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=129988"},"modified":"2020-03-16T09:00:44","modified_gmt":"2020-03-16T16:00:44","slug":"draftkings-moving-ahead-with-games-business-plans-amid-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-moving-ahead-with-games-business-plans-amid-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"DraftKings Moving Ahead with Games, Business Plans Amid COVID-19 Outbreak, Offering Free Contest Sunday on Democratic Debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Even with an extremely limited sports menu on the docket because of the COVID-19 pandemic, DraftKings told Casino.org<\/em> on Friday that it still plans to offer all of its products to its customers across the country.<\/p>\n

\"\"
US Sen. Bernie Sanders (left) and former Vice President Joe Biden will hopefully practice better social distancing during Sunday’s debate. DraftKings is offering a free-to-play nationwide game based on the debate, with $10,000 up for grabs. (Image: Jonathan Ernst\/Reuters)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Proof of that is on the company\u2019s sportsbook page, where it\u2019s offering a free-to-play game on Sunday night\u2019s Democratic Debate between US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Vice President Joe Biden<\/a>. DraftKings is guaranteeing $10,000 for a game that\u2019s open for anyone to play, even if they\u2019re located in states where sports betting is illegal.<\/p>\n

\n

As of 3:30 pm ET Sunday, more than 22,000 people had signed up for the game, which limits entries to one per person. Entrants must answer 12 questions, and the contestant with the highest score wins $5,000. Second and third place winners will earn $3,000 and $2,000, respectively.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

By 4:15 pm, the number of entrants grew to more than 32,500.<\/p>\n

The two-hour debate will start at 8 p.m. ET and will air on CNN. It\u2019s the first time that only the top two Democrats candidates will be on the stage, and it\u2019s the last debate before Arizona, Florida, Illinois, and Ohio are scheduled to hold their primary elections on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Just as the coronavirus pandemic has drastically altered the sports landscape in America, it\u2019s also affected the debate. It\u2019s been moved to Washington, DC from Phoenix and there will be no studio audience.<\/p>\n

Some Sports Still Available<\/h2>\n

Current sports available for betting at DraftKings include Russian KHL ice hockey, upcoming MMA and boxing matches, Australian rugby, and Australian rules football. Aussie rules football is scheduled to start its regular season early Thursday morning (US time).<\/p>\n

DraftKings had offered Mexican Liga MX soccer.\u00a0 But that league announced Sunday it would suspend play because of the COVID-19 virus.<\/p>\n

The sportsbook also has a select list of 26 college football games available for betting. The available games begin with Notre Dame\u2019s Aug. 29 game against the Naval Academy. The Fighting Irish are a 14.5-point favorite over the visiting Midshipmen, and go through Nov. 28, the final week of the regular season.<\/p>\n

Right now, games offered for the final week of the season include: Alabama-Auburn, where the Crimson Tide are a 9.5-point favorite over visiting Auburn; Ohio State-Michigan, where the Buckeyes are is a 7.5-point favorite over visiting Michigan; and Wisconsin-Iowa, where the visiting Badgers are a 2.5-point road favorite at Iowa.<\/p>\n

DraftKings currently offers sportsbook gambling in eight states. It offers mobile sports betting in Iowa, Indiana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. It also has retail sportsbooks in Iowa, Mississippi, New Jersey and New York.<\/p>\n

Business Plan Still on Track<\/h2>\n

The coronavirus pandemic is also not affecting the company\u2019s business plans, a DraftKings spokesperson to Casino.org<\/em>.<\/p>\n

We remain on track to become a public company through our business combination with Diamond Eagle (Acquisition Corp.) and SBTech, and closed out 2019 having achieved $323 million in net revenue, a 43% increase over 2018,\u201d they said. \u201cWhen games resume in the sports and leagues impacted by COVID-19, DraftKings will be right where we’ve always been–in the middle of the action with our millions of players.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In December, DraftKings announced its intention to become a publicly traded<\/a> company through a deal with Diamond Eagle. Diamond Eagle is a special purchase acquisition corporation traded on NASDAQ. It would assume DraftKings’ name, reincorporate in Nevada, and change its stock ticker abbreviation. The plan at the time was for the transaction to close sometime in the first half of this year.<\/p>\n

SBTech is a European company that offers back-end sports betting technology solutions, including oddsmaking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Even with an extremely limited sports menu on the docket because of the COVID-19 pandemic, DraftKings told Casino.org on Friday that it still plans to offer all of its products to its customers across the country. Proof of that is on the company\u2019s sportsbook page, where it\u2019s offering a free-to-play game on Sunday night\u2019s Democratic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":129989,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33810,19853,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDraftKings Moving Ahead with Games, Business Plans Amid COVID-19<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"DraftKings will offer a free-to-play game tied to Sunday night's Democratic presidential debate, and it's still moving forward with plans to go public.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"DraftKings Moving Ahead with Games, Business Plans Amid COVID-19\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"DraftKings will offer a free-to-play game tied to Sunday night's Democratic presidential debate, and it's still moving forward with plans to go public.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-moving-ahead-with-games-business-plans-amid-covid-19\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-03-15T20:22:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-03-16T16:00:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/2003015-bernie-sanders-joe-biden-cs-951a_cf420b8a07674525700a70cda5b558ce.fit-2000w.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1336\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steve Bittenbender\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steve Bittenbender\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-moving-ahead-with-games-business-plans-amid-covid-19\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-moving-ahead-with-games-business-plans-amid-covid-19\/\",\"name\":\"DraftKings Moving Ahead with Games, Business Plans Amid COVID-19\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-moving-ahead-with-games-business-plans-amid-covid-19\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-moving-ahead-with-games-business-plans-amid-covid-19\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/2003015-bernie-sanders-joe-biden-cs-951a_cf420b8a07674525700a70cda5b558ce.fit-2000w.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-15T20:22:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-03-16T16:00:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2\"},\"description\":\"DraftKings will offer a free-to-play game tied to Sunday night's Democratic presidential debate, and it's still moving forward with plans to go public.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-moving-ahead-with-games-business-plans-amid-covid-19\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-moving-ahead-with-games-business-plans-amid-covid-19\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-moving-ahead-with-games-business-plans-amid-covid-19\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/2003015-bernie-sanders-joe-biden-cs-951a_cf420b8a07674525700a70cda5b558ce.fit-2000w.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/2003015-bernie-sanders-joe-biden-cs-951a_cf420b8a07674525700a70cda5b558ce.fit-2000w.jpg\",\"width\":2000,\"height\":1336,\"caption\":\"(Image: Jonathan Ernst\/Reuters)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-moving-ahead-with-games-business-plans-amid-covid-19\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Gaming Business\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gaming-business\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"DraftKings Moving Ahead with Games, Business Plans Amid COVID-19 Outbreak, Offering Free Contest Sunday on Democratic Debate\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2\",\"name\":\"Steve Bittenbender\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-7-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-7-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Steve Bittenbender\"},\"description\":\"Steve Bittenbender covers Midwest and Gulport news for Casino.org. He also specializes in sports betting and horse racing. Steve is a veteran reporter and brings more than two decades of experience covering sports, business and politics. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Steve has also covered major collegiate and professional sports for the Associated Press and the Louisville Courier-Journal and is frequently featured on local network TV newscasts and podcasts for his horse racing business and legislative expertise. A Reuters contributor, he has also previously served as editor for Government Security News. Steve lives in Louisville, Kentucky -- the epicenter of the US horse racing industry -- with his wife and son. He is also an avid poker player, having learned from his uncle as a wholesome after-school pastime with cookies and milk. Contact Steve at stevebittenbender@casino.org.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/steve-bittenbender\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"DraftKings Moving Ahead with Games, Business Plans Amid COVID-19","description":"DraftKings will offer a free-to-play game tied to Sunday night's Democratic presidential debate, and it's still moving forward with plans to go public.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"DraftKings Moving Ahead with Games, Business Plans Amid COVID-19","og_description":"DraftKings will offer a free-to-play game tied to Sunday night's Democratic presidential debate, and it's still moving forward with plans to go public.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-moving-ahead-with-games-business-plans-amid-covid-19\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2020-03-15T20:22:12+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-03-16T16:00:44+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2000,"height":1336,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/2003015-bernie-sanders-joe-biden-cs-951a_cf420b8a07674525700a70cda5b558ce.fit-2000w.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Steve Bittenbender","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Casino_Org","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Steve Bittenbender","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-moving-ahead-with-games-business-plans-amid-covid-19\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-moving-ahead-with-games-business-plans-amid-covid-19\/","name":"DraftKings Moving Ahead with Games, Business Plans Amid COVID-19","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-moving-ahead-with-games-business-plans-amid-covid-19\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-moving-ahead-with-games-business-plans-amid-covid-19\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/2003015-bernie-sanders-joe-biden-cs-951a_cf420b8a07674525700a70cda5b558ce.fit-2000w.jpg","datePublished":"2020-03-15T20:22:12+00:00","dateModified":"2020-03-16T16:00:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2"},"description":"DraftKings will offer a free-to-play game tied to Sunday night's Democratic presidential debate, and it's still moving forward with plans to go public.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-moving-ahead-with-games-business-plans-amid-covid-19\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-moving-ahead-with-games-business-plans-amid-covid-19\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-moving-ahead-with-games-business-plans-amid-covid-19\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/2003015-bernie-sanders-joe-biden-cs-951a_cf420b8a07674525700a70cda5b558ce.fit-2000w.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/2003015-bernie-sanders-joe-biden-cs-951a_cf420b8a07674525700a70cda5b558ce.fit-2000w.jpg","width":2000,"height":1336,"caption":"(Image: Jonathan Ernst\/Reuters)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-moving-ahead-with-games-business-plans-amid-covid-19\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Gaming Business","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gaming-business\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"DraftKings Moving Ahead with Games, Business Plans Amid COVID-19 Outbreak, Offering Free Contest Sunday on Democratic Debate"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2","name":"Steve Bittenbender","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-7-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-7-1-96x96.png","caption":"Steve Bittenbender"},"description":"Steve Bittenbender covers Midwest and Gulport news for Casino.org. He also specializes in sports betting and horse racing. Steve is a veteran reporter and brings more than two decades of experience covering sports, business and politics. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Steve has also covered major collegiate and professional sports for the Associated Press and the Louisville Courier-Journal and is frequently featured on local network TV newscasts and podcasts for his horse racing business and legislative expertise. A Reuters contributor, he has also previously served as editor for Government Security News. Steve lives in Louisville, Kentucky -- the epicenter of the US horse racing industry -- with his wife and son. He is also an avid poker player, having learned from his uncle as a wholesome after-school pastime with cookies and milk. Contact Steve at stevebittenbender@casino.org.","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/steve-bittenbender\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129988"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}