Michigan posted its best revenue numbers in nine months in September of this year, with about $1.6 million total. DraftKings owns the biggest share of that market with nearly 60% of the total.
The Michigan daily fantasy sports (DFS) market has been in turmoil since it opened in January of 2020. Almost immediately after opening, the market was rocked by the early pandemic closures as sports leagues around the world shuttered their stadiums and canceled events, but after a rocky couple of years, the market appears to be resurging again.
September, the most recent month for which data is available in Michigan due to a six week lag on data release, showed a reversal of the downward trend that has been occurring in the market since June of this year, with a solid showing of just under $1.6 million in total revenue.
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The main recipient of that revenue was market leader DraftKings, which managed $943,337 in revenue for September. That was 58.3% of the total market size, putting them in the clear lead.
DraftKings’ main competitor, FanDuel, collected just under $540,000 for the month, for about one-third of the market. Put together, the two main players dominate the market with more than 90% share between them, leaving barely 8% for other operators to fight over.
The Market in Detail
A pie chart for the market shows the situation quite well. There is just a tiny slice of the pie leftover once the total footprint of the two big players, DraftKings and Fanduel, are calculated.
There are six other operators in the space, but less than $100,000 in market share to fight over for the moment. Five of them showed small revenue gains in September, with Yahoo was in the red by almost $24,000.
FFPC, LLC held the lion’s share of the leftover revenue with more than $88,000 while Fantasy Sports Shark was second with around $18,000 in revenue. Other operators that recorded revenue came in under $10,000.
With nearly 60% of the total market, there is very little question that DraftKings Sports holds a commanding lead. Revenue increased for both DraftKings and Fanduel from the August numbers, with both players improving substantially.
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DraftKings had the biggest bump, however, from around $420,000 in August to more than $940,000 in September. Rival FanDuel also generated more revenue from August, but it only went from around $300,000 to around $540,000 month-to-month.
The numbers this year are down year-on-year by quite a significant margin. In Sep of 2020, the market was back in full swing again, at a fever pitch after the lockdowns of earlier in the year. DraftKings alone recorded more than $1.6 million in revenue, which eclipsed the entire market in Sept 2021.
While the pandemic boost came a bit later for sports-related gaming because the lockdowns also closed most of the sports the games are based on, the latter part of 2020 was that boost in the sports world, and so it is no surprise to see numbers lower this year. September 2021 marks a significant improvement over August, which saw revenue for the year bottom out at less than $1 million total.
The rebound in September marked the second-highest month for the market in 2021, only trailing January’s $2.3 million. That said, it is easy to see January as the end of the pandemic boost rather than the start of the current revenue paradigm, which makes September the best month since the boost trailed off.
DraftKings is holding the lead now and shows no sign of giving it up, but FanDuel’s 33% of the market is nothing to ignore. It will take some work for any of the other players to push into contention, but it looks like there is a growing market to make the attempt.
