Online-gambling and fantasy-sports company DraftKings Inc., received a market value of more than $6 billion after going public through a blank-check company merger — a nontraditional route to. The DraftKings Online Casino is less than a year old as it originally launched in Pennsylvania in May 2020 before expanding out into New Jersey and West Virginia. Now, they are looking to enter more markets as they look to Michigan next. DraftKings partnered with Bay Mills Resorts & Casino in Brimley, located in the Upper Penninsula. DraftKings Sportsbook users can wager on the vast majority of teams, sports and events. However, some state betting regulations prohibit wagering on certain sports or athletic events. New Jersey and New Hampshire, for example, do not allow betting on collegiate sports teams from within their jurisdictions. These prohibited bets will not be shown. .Reward tiers are as follows: $3, $10, $100 and $500 are awarded as site credits and can only be used on DraftKings. $1,000, $10,000 & $25,000 are issued. Whereas index-based internet funds are usually heavily allocated to the likes of Amazon, Alphabet and Facebook, ARKW can add names like DraftKings before the shares are included in widely followed.

DraftKings stock shares jumped 9% today on news that CathieWood and her ARK fund started buying $DKNG.

According to a trading update after close on Monday, the ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) acquired 620,300 shares of $DKNG. That chunk was worth around $34 million based on Monday’s closing price of $59.

It marked the first time any of the ARK investment funds had invested in DraftKings.

ARK buying $DKNG for the first time.. https://t.co/59ayMIntSQ

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) February 2, 2021

Why does it matter for DraftKings stock?

Draftkings Internet Games

As the stock jump indicated, ARK is one of the most respected funds in the US. Wood is known for her bullish early calls on assets like Tesla and Bitcoin.

The ARKW fund was up 157% in 2020. Other ARKW holdings include tech giants like Spotify and Netflix.

The $34 million investment is equivalent to around 0.5% of the ARKW portfolio.

Ark is bullish on sports betting

The investment follows an ARK report in January that called for huge growth in US online sports betting.

Draftkings Online Betting

“Legalized online sports betting is giving companies – and the leagues themselves – an opportunity to offer exciting interactive experiences and generate new sources of revenues,” Ark Invest analyst Nicholas Grous said.

Grous called for total US sports betting revenues to hit $37 billion by 2025 – the top end of previous analyst estimates. That projection includes $18 billion from traditional sports betting, along with $13 billion from fantasy and $6 billion from esports betting.

“We believe the handle for online sports betting could scale 10x from roughly $18 billion to $180 billion,” Grous said.

Draftkings Internet Traffic

DraftKings shares were last up 9% to $59. The company reports its Q4 results on February 26. Analysts expect the company to post revenues of $232 million.

Draftkings Football Fantasy For Cash

DraftKings went public through a SPAC process in April 2020, becoming the first major sports betting operator to offer shares on a US-facing index. The offering included DraftKings and SBTech combining their businesses after DK agreed to purchase the tech provider in December 2019.