Earnings Labs

DraftKings Inc. (DKNG)

Q1 2021 Earnings Call· Fri, May 7, 2021

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good day and thank you for standing by, and welcome to the DraftKings' Q1 2021 Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speakers’ presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions]. I would now like to introduce your host for this conference call, Stanton Dodge. You may begin.

Stanton Dodge

Analyst

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Statements we make during this call that are not statements of historical facts constitute forward-looking statements that are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from our historical results or from our forecast. We assume no responsibility for updating forward-looking statements. For more information, please refer to the risks, uncertainties and other factors discussed in our SEC filings. During the call, management will also discuss certain non-GAAP measures that we believe may be useful in evaluating DraftKings' operating performance. These measures should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for DraftKings' financial results prepared in accordance with GAAP. A reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures is available in our quarterly report on Form 10-Q filed today with the SEC and in our earnings presentation, which is available on our Web site at investors.draftkings.com. Hosting the call today, we have Jason Robins, Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman of DraftKings, who will share some opening remarks and an update on our business; and Jason Park, Chief Financial Officer of DraftKings, who will provide a review of our financials. We will then open up the line to questions. I will now turn the call over to Jason Robins.

Jason Robins

Analyst

Good morning, everyone. To start today's call, I want to touch on a few recent examples of how DraftKings, our employees and our customers are giving back to our communities. In March, DraftKings celebrated International Women's Day, our newest global company holiday and launched a free-to-play pool celebrating female athletes. About 100,000 people participated in each entry and raised money for U.S. and global organization supporting and empowering female leaders and entrepreneurs. We also recently announced the appointment of Gisele Bündchen, environmental activist and philanthropist as a special advisor to me and our Board of Directors for ESG initiatives. Gisele is a global icon who has utilized the platform she established in fashion entertainment to lead and advocate for vital environmental causes and social causes. The strategic counsel and unique global perspective that Gisele brings to the Board will be indispensable. She is already making an impact as we have collaborated to set a goal of planting 1 million trees by Earth Day 2022. We launched several opportunities for customers to directly support the effort, including through charity daily fantasy sports contests and free-to-play pools. And in coordination with the Arbor Day Foundation, DraftKings has pledged to plant the first 100,000 trees in several U.S. states. May is Military Appreciation Month in the U.S. During this month, we also recognize Military Spouse Day and Memorial Day. DraftKings is proud to continue to support service members, veterans and their families. We are launching our second Tech for Heroes class of 2021, providing veterans and military spouses with free high tech skills and training to support their post service career goals. DraftKings customers will also have the opportunity to show their support through charity DFS contests to benefit our Tech for Heroes initiatives. All of these initiatives are part of our overarching…

Jason Park

Analyst

Thank you, Jason. Good morning, everyone. Before I begin, I want to remind everyone that we will be discussing our results on a combined company pro forma basis to improve comparability as if we owned our B2B business starting on January 1, 2020 rather than on April 23, 2020. We are pleased to announce that we generated 312 million in revenue for the quarter, representing a 175% increase versus Q1 2020 revenue of 113 million. A portion of this amazing growth is due to the sports postponements that occurred in Q1 2020 due to COVID-19. Our B2C business generated 281 million for the quarter, representing a 217% increase versus prior year. B2C monthly unique payers in the quarter increased 114% year-over-year to 1.5 million. The increase reflects strong unique payer retention and acquisition across VFS, OSB and iGaming as well as the lack of traditional sports in the last three weeks of March 2020. Average revenue per monthly unique payer, or ARPMUP, was $61 in Q1 representing a 48% increase versus the same period in 2020. Our ARPMUP was positively impacted by increased engagement with our iGaming and online sports book product offerings and our excellent cross-selling capabilities. Our B2B business generated $31 million in the quarter, up 26% versus prior year due to the positive impact of FX as well as last March being impacted by COVID. First quarter revenue exceeded our expectations due to a number of factors, including the extension of an executive order that allowed for continued mobile registration in Illinois through Q1, higher than forecast OSB hold percentage, over performance in our core business as a result of continued strong customer acquisitions, retention and monetization and strong launches in Michigan and Virginia. We generated $155 million of gross profit dollars on an adjusted EBITDA basis…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions]. Our first question comes from Stephen Grambling with Goldman Sachs.

Stephen Grambling

Analyst

Hi. Good morning. Thanks for taking the questions.

Jason Robins

Analyst

Good morning.

Stephen Grambling

Analyst

In the release, you highlighted the launch of social aspects on the app. Can you just help us maybe think longer term about maybe social and what do you envision as a potential opportunity? Does this include effectively user-led content? Thanks.

Jason Robins

Analyst

Thanks, Stephen. Great question. So we're very excited about some of the new social features we'll be releasing. We have a dedicated team on that, led by a guy named Jordan Mendell, and we're very excited that we'll be able to really be an innovator in this space. I think the idea is to, yes, allow some user-generated content, but obviously there will be moderation. And then the bigger picture is just to allow people to connect specifically around the experience they're having on DraftKings. Obviously, a lot of social platforms out there. This isn't attempting to substitute for what the Facebooks and Twitters and Instagrams the world are doing. It's really more meant to enhance the actual experience on DraftKings. And a lot of requests we get from people, how do I better see what my friends are betting on and what they're playing? How do I interact if I like a bet my friend makes and let them know? How do I understand what my friends are playing so I can play contest against them on our private leagues product? So lots of requests we've gotten and we're trying to do our best to facilitate those interactions in a way that makes users stickier, but more importantly improves the customer experience.

Stephen Grambling

Analyst

That's great. Thanks. I’ll jump back in the queue.

Operator

Operator

The next question comes from Jed Kelly of Oppenheimer.

Jed Kelly

Analyst

Great. Thanks for taking my question. So we're seeing a big media push by all the sports books in the industry. So, Jason, just a bigger picture question for you. How do you see media transforming Draft? Do you kind of see yourselves eventually becoming more of sports entertainment product? And just how should we view how you look at the media opportunity over the next two to three years?

Jason Robins

Analyst

It's a great question, Jed. Really, it starts with two important principles. One, there's a ton of synergy between media and content and what our core products offer. We all know this. Clearly, there's a demand that gets driven for content by our products, and then in turn content drives further demand on the gaming product. So tremendous synergy there. Secondly, we have a good track record of being able to launch new product lines and monetize our customer base as well as utilize them to acquire a broader customer base. We've done that with multiple products now. So we think between our data science capabilities and other analytics that we've employed, we're going to be really effective at targeting the right content to the right customers at the right time, and also using what we see consumption on content looking like to be able to better target gaming offers. So that's really the crux of the strategy is to be able to take advantage of those synergies and to be able to add new revenue streams and new sources of user acquisition engagement.

Jed Kelly

Analyst

And then as a follow up, I guess with the VSiN acquisition, do you plan to create your own channel or put it on more streaming services? I know it's on NESN and a couple of other services. But how do you view VSiN into that overall strategy?

Jason Robins

Analyst

Well, VSiN provides a really important capability, creating content around sports betting, which is obviously a very core area that our audience focuses on. They do have a channel currently. We're exploring broader distribution and we'll also be creating content for a variety of other services, so lots of plans with them. They have an incredibly talented team and we're really lucky and fortunate to have them on our side now and look forward to collaborating with them to create great content for customers.

Jed Kelly

Analyst

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Ben Chaiken with Credit Suisse.

Ben Chaiken

Analyst · Credit Suisse.

Hi. How's it going? Just to follow up on Vegas Sports Network. Is there a plan to work some of that functionality into the sports betting platform itself? So whether it's news, analysis, help making picks, or is it -- or should we think about it as being kind of a separate entity that helps drive traffic?

Jason Robins

Analyst · Credit Suisse.

I think it will be a little bit of both. I do think that the nice thing about VSiN is that we get a capability. So that capability can be utilized, as you noted, in multiple ways. Some of it can be utilized directly within the gaming experience in order to enhance that. Other ways can be utilized, as you noted, are to drive customer acquisition engagement, adoption of new products through external media and other channels that we'll distribute through. So we're going to use it in both ways. And really the important thing we look at is we got a capability to create great content in an area that's very meaningful and important to our customers and our target customers.

Ben Chaiken

Analyst · Credit Suisse.

Got it. Is there any like hesitation with adding more functionality to the OSB platform or is it more iGaming or is it more just kind of like on the comp I guess?

Jason Robins

Analyst · Credit Suisse.

Well, we always test everything. So you never know. I'm routinely surprised at things that I thought would perform in a certain way, good or bad, and don't. And that's why we always let the data do the talking. So we'll test adding different things. And if we find that it's enhancing the customer experience and not distracting people, then we'll add more. And if not, then we'll pare back. And really, it will be an evolution based on what we're seeing in the data.

Ben Chaiken

Analyst · Credit Suisse.

Thanks. I appreciate it.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Thomas Allen with Morgan Stanley.

Thomas Allen

Analyst · Morgan Stanley.

Thank you. So just on the revenue, first quarter revenue was obviously really strong. With your fourth quarter earnings, you suggested first quarter revenues would be in the low 20s percent. And now you're saying 28%. Are you more like tempered on the rest of the year because the results you're seeing in the second quarter so far, is it seasonality? Can you just unlock it a little bit more?

Jason Robins

Analyst · Morgan Stanley.

Sure. So I think it really starts with Q1 was an absolutely amazing quarter for us. And some of the reasons why, certainly, there were strong performance in the business and that should carry through for the rest of the year. But there were other reasons such as higher hold than we typically get. That's just random fluctuations in sporting outcomes, really can't count on that for the rest of the year. And also, of course, the Illinois executive order, which ran through Q1 but in the first few days of Q2 was not renewed. Illinois, as we noted, had become our largest state for sports betting handle. And while we think we're continuing to be really well positioned there in terms of market share, I don't expect the overall market to grow as substantially as it could have otherwise in absence of new legislation or a renewal of that executive order. So that's another example of something that we know won't continue through the rest of the year, and that's skewing a little bit how much Q1 will be as a percentage of the overall year. And then just in general, when you have a great quarter like that, we think it's prudent not to assume every single quarter will be a blowout. So, we're taking a cautious approach and saying that we think that other quarters will be more in line with what a typical quarter might look like. Obviously, if some things break our way or just if the underlying business continues to perform as strongly as it has been, then we might see some upside there.

Thomas Allen

Analyst · Morgan Stanley.

Okay. Just a quick one, what was the whole benefit?

Jason Robins

Analyst · Morgan Stanley.

Sorry, the question was on the whole?

Thomas Allen

Analyst · Morgan Stanley.

Yes. How much was it?

Jason Robins

Analyst · Morgan Stanley.

I don't think we've -- no, we haven't shared exactly what those numbers will. But we can consider sharing some more detail there. What we have said is that there is definitely a higher than average hold rate due to random fluctuations in sports outcomes and I think that that's something that generally we've seen evens out over the course of the year, but can definitely month-to-month or quarter-to-quarter sometimes have some lumpiness.

Thomas Allen

Analyst · Morgan Stanley.

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Michael Graham with Canaccord.

Michael Graham

Analyst · Canaccord.

Yes. Thanks and impressive results. I wanted to ask about MUP growth. Typically, Q1 would be seasonally a little bit down sequentially and you were able to grow and you have a few things under the hood there between new activations and retention engagement and potentially threading in more iGaming acquisitions. And so I just wanted to ask like if you could deconstruct the MUP performance a little bit? And as a follow on, when you're out there in marketing, especially in digital channels, do you -- can you just make a comment on how crowded some of those channels are from OSB and iGaming competitors, or are you more competing against other types of players or just any color you can provide on that environment would be great?

Jason Robins

Analyst · Canaccord.

Thanks, Mike. So first on the MUPs question. Certainly, we saw a much stronger activation and customer acquisition in Q1, so both had pretty significant contribution to the MUPs increase. I think that what we're seeing is there's just a lot of momentum in the industry right now, and I think that we are finding that our marketing is performing just as it did towards the back half of last year, really at record levels. And our response is incredibly high. Our caps continue to be low despite the fact that we've ramped up our spend and we're just getting excellent return on our marketing, so that's helping to drive a lot of activation of new users as well. So really those are the main drivers. And then -- sorry, what was the second question?

Michael Graham

Analyst · Canaccord.

Just wanted to ask if you could comment on the marketing environment when you're out there acquiring players in digital channels, like how intense is the competition from your competitors.

Jason Robins

Analyst · Canaccord.

Well, what's interesting on digital channels is, yes, there is certainly competition within our core market. But also a lot of where we were competing previously for impressions was with mobile games, and those games I think have been hurt more so than maybe we would be by the IDFA changes. So we've actually seen some softening in the digital markets due to some of the traditional mobile games companies pulling back a bit. And that's created a favorable environment for us. I wouldn't say it's tremendously favorable. It's really kind of more similar to what it looked like before. But to answer your question directly, we're not really seeing a hyper competitive environment right now relative to anything we've seen before. It looks pretty normal and I think it's kind of an offset of, yes, we are seeing better performance for companies like DraftKings, but it's also offset by maybe some pullback in the traditional mobile gaming companies.

Michael Graham

Analyst · Canaccord.

Okay. Thanks, Jason.

Jason Robins

Analyst · Canaccord.

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Carlo Santarelli with Deutsche Bank.

Carlo Santarelli

Analyst · Deutsche Bank.

Hi, guys. Thanks and good morning. Appreciating the fact that you guys don't want to disclose the whole benefit in the period. If we can kind of just break down the old guidance midpoint and kind of that low 20s range, it would apply you can kind of beat the implied guidance within the guidance by about $100 million in a quarter. Any chance you guys would be willing to maybe bucket where that outperformance came, if it's iCasino relative to OSB relative to DFS? I'm assuming the two former categories are the lion's share. But maybe even just if you could split out kind of a delta of the upside in relative to that guidance between kind of OSB and iCasino in the period given the very strong start of Michigan?

Jason Robins

Analyst · Deutsche Bank.

Thanks, Carlo. I appreciate the nice words. We are not disclosing any break out of iGaming versus OSB revenue right now. Given some of the trends that have occurred recently with Michigan being so strong on the iGaming side, we certainly saw some benefit from that. I think that really exceeded our expectations. And as we noted in the earnings call, the growth of -- or the revenue per capita in Michigan on the iGaming side greatly outperformed New Jersey in a similar time period in its first year. And OSB did too, but not by nearly as much. So that was certainly a factor. We mentioned the hold rate that drove OSB revenue a little bit higher than what we would normally have seen based on the betting volumes. So we're not breaking it out, but I would say -- I think it's fair to say that really all products across the board, including DFS, we had record numbers for the last several years for DFS if you look at some of the stats that we disclosed from Super Bowl and March Madness and otherwise. We haven't seen growth in that product at these levels since 2015. So really pleased with how everything's performing across the board and everything contributed to the beat.

Carlo Santarelli

Analyst · Deutsche Bank.

Great. Thank you. And then if I could, just one follow-up. As it pertains to the integration of the SBTech stuff at the end of the 3Q, will that basically for the 4Q be your functioning back-end for every state, or does it kind of go state by state and you take it slowly?

Jason Robins

Analyst · Deutsche Bank.

Well, we are going state by state, but we're saying by the end of Q3, we will be fully complete with every state. So to answer your question, in fourth quarter, we will be on our own proprietary platform in every state. And between now and then, we will take it on a state-by-state basis. This is, of course, assuming we get all the necessary regulatory approvals. That's obviously a process and that's part of why we are going state by state. But assuming we get all the approvals from just the pure product and tech standpoint, we feel like we're well on track for end of Q3 and maybe even a little bit earlier.

Carlo Santarelli

Analyst · Deutsche Bank.

Great. And then guys, I'm sorry, if you could just take one more? Any commentary around New York and the strategy there given kind of the cloudy regulation as it currently stands?

Jason Robins

Analyst · Deutsche Bank.

Well, first of all, really exciting that New York has moved forward the mobile sports betting legislation. I know for years there's been speculation about it. And it's really great to see that it got done. And not only got done, but has strong support from the legislature, from the governor's office, and really want to thank the legislature and Governor Cuomo for moving that bill through the budget. As far as our strategy, we're going to wait and see when the RFP comes out what it looks like. And we're going to put our best foot forward. And I think we feel, like I said, very excited about the opportunity in New York and we're looking forward to participating in the process. And hopefully, it will be a good outcome.

Carlo Santarelli

Analyst · Deutsche Bank.

Great. Thank you very much, guys.

Jason Robins

Analyst · Deutsche Bank.

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Bernie McTernan with Needham & Company.

Bernie McTernan

Analyst · Needham & Company.

You mentioned the 600,000 unique devices with DISH. I was just wondering how the customer is using this product. Do you think it's going to be an important part of the customer experience long term or more niche? Just because watching TV, everyone already has a second screen next to them with access to the app? And then within that, is the MVPD the more advantageous position to be able to execute this strategy relative to a cable network or is it the other way around?

Jason Robins

Analyst · Needham & Company.

I think that there are different ways you can execute the strategy that device makers provide potentially another way in addition to the ones you named. And I think the cable networks are a little more challenging. It would have to be something that we're more directly connected to the device or to the network I would think. The first part of your question, I think really what we're trying to do is to create something that makes the convenience of being able to consume whenever you're watching, sports on the screen as well as playing the games and checking your bets and all that as easy as possible. I think people will have a mix of things they use. Part of the sort of proliferation of devices all around us has been people don't typically just do things one way or another. Even as I think about my own behavior, sometimes I use my phone to turn my TV on because it's connected. Sometimes I just grab the remote and it just sort of whatever feels convenient at the moment. So I think you'll see some people exclusively using that or primarily using that. I think you'll see some people not using it at all. And I think you'll see some people going back and forth. But what we're going to do is just keep looking at the data, keep optimizing the customer experience and listen to what our users are saying and what makes their experience more entertaining and more convenient.

Bernie McTernan

Analyst · Needham & Company.

Thanks, Jason.

Jason Robins

Analyst · Needham & Company.

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions]. Our next question comes from David Katz with Jefferies.

David Katz

Analyst · Jefferies.

Good morning. I know we're still a couple of quarters away, but I wondered if there were any testing or any learnings or any interesting surprises one way or the other around that in advance? Thank you.

Jason Robins

Analyst · Jefferies.

Sorry, around what?

David Katz

Analyst · Jefferies.

The SBTech go live, which is still a couple of quarters away.

Jason Robins

Analyst · Jefferies.

Yes. So we have begun the process. We've done a tremendous amount of testing. We test everything internally. And then, of course, as we go state by state, we'll get more and more data. And so far what we're seeing is very encouraging. There's been really only kind of minor things around the edges that we've had to clean up. Otherwise, our internal testing has been really strong at predicting things and we've been able to get everything in order. So, so far, so good. It is still early. And to answer your question, yes, as we get closer to the full migration, we'll have more and more states there migrated over and we'll have more and more data to look at and be able to get a sense of how things are going. But from what we're seeing so far, everything's going great.

David Katz

Analyst · Jefferies.

Okay. Thank you. I appreciate it.

Jason Robins

Analyst · Jefferies.

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Stephen Glagola with Cowen.

Stephen Glagola

Analyst · Cowen.

Hi. Thanks for the question. I just want to touch base on Illinois a little bit more. It seems like you had a Q1 with the number one market share in terms of handle. With remote registration ending in early April, have you seen any impact in your market share so far? And do you expect to maintain that share throughout the year until it goes back to remote registration in early 2022?

Jason Robins

Analyst · Cowen.

Yes, it's a great question. I think really hard to say for sure but given I don't expect there to be nearly the volume of sign-ups. And I use Iowa, for example, as a comparison and Iowa, where for the first 18 months after going live, there was no mobile registration. And the first thing I think was like five days of January this year when mobile registration was turned on, we exceeded the entire previous year in terms of registering. So I think the volume that comes in when there is mobile registration is just so significant compared to when there's not that. My suspicion would be that market shares sort of stabilize until that returns and hopefully when it returns if it returns. And as you noted, we've been number one in handle I think since August, every month in Illinois so we feel like we're in a great position. Obviously disappointing that we won't be able to take mobile registrants or at least for some time, but I think if we -- if that were to be the case as it is, then I think we could be in a stronger position and feel very good about where we are from a market share standpoint in that state.

Stephen Glagola

Analyst · Cowen.

All right. Thanks, Jason.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Vasily Karasyov with Cannonball Research.

Vasily Karasyov

Analyst · Cannonball Research.

Thank you. Good morning. I wanted to follow up on your comments about online sports betting and media content converging. So there is a situation developing. I'm sure you're very aware of that between Flutter and Fox Broadcast Corporation, which could lead to all kinds of structural outcomes in the market. So with FanDuel becoming a stand-alone publicly traded company in the U.S., maybe some combinations with PokerStars, Fox Bet and so on. So I was wondering if you are -- if you could share your thoughts with us how that would impact your strategy and your market position?

Jason Robins

Analyst · Cannonball Research.

Thank you. So, I know there's a lot of rumor and speculation about that right now. One, we don't really have any insight so it's hard for me to really have any opinion but even if I did, we don't really think that what others are doing in terms of corporate structure and how that all plays out, really has much of anything to do with our strategy. We're going to continue to pursue the strategy that we've set out that we believe will position us to have the best long-term value and continue to be able to consistently meet or exceed the expectations that we set. And I think being able to focus internally on driving those types of results has been part of what's driven our previous strong performance. So we're going to continue down that path. And there will be a lot of activity in the market. I think when you have an exciting industry with so much potential, tens of billions of dollars, maybe more potential, you're going to see a lot of different moves by competitors. Obviously, we pay attention to them but it doesn't really change what we're doing.

Vasily Karasyov

Analyst · Cannonball Research.

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Joe Stauff with Susquehanna.

Joe Stauff

Analyst · Susquehanna.

Good morning. Jason, I'm wondering if you could comment or on overall engagement maybe thus far in the quarter, second quarter -- April, May -- early May, and the reason I ask obviously is that I realize online sports betting is seasonally softer just given the number of sporting events. And just wondering kind of where engagement is or how it changes, maybe commenting specifically on iCasino engagement in terms of just how that may change?

Jason Robins

Analyst · Susquehanna.

Yes, it's a great question. You are right that there is seasonality to the sporting calendar. Typically back half of the year is always greater. It's been a little bit disruptive whatever that typical seasonality has been by all the calendar shifts. So it's a little bit of a unique year for sure. And I think as a result of some of that, there's actually quite a bit on the slate for Q2. NBA and NHL regular seasons are ending in the next week or two and that will begin the playoffs. This year, the NBA and NHL playoffs are going to run into July, which I don't think has ever happened before. So that will create some additional content that hasn't been there in previous years. Obviously, baseball is off to a great start. The PGA has two majors in Q2; the PGA Championship in May and the U.S. Open in June. Two majors also on the tennis front with the French Open in May going into early June and then Wimbledon is obviously starting towards the end of the quarter. And then there are some exciting things going on in other sports as well. UFC, who we recently signed a partnership with, has two big fights coming up; one on May 15th and one on June 12th, UFC 262 and 263, respectively. And then this year, there's a lot going on, on the soccer side. Euro Cup is happening. It starts toward the middle of June and obviously run into Q3. Champion's League, Premier League, so lots of exciting stuff on the sports calendar. I think more so maybe this year than the prior years, you're going to get a full quarter because of the season -- the shifting, excuse me, in the sports calendars. And we're going to have to see how that all plays out. Much like last year, we're in a bit of unchartered territory with how the sports are overlapping and obviously a little tough to predict how NBA does in July when -- NBA Finals do I should say in July when that's never happened before. So it will be fun to see and we're just excited. There's a lot of great content out there to provide our customers with.

Joe Stauff

Analyst · Susquehanna.

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Shaun Kelley with Bank of America.

Shaun Kelley

Analyst · Bank of America.

Hi. Good morning, everyone. Just wanted to ask about some of the marketing efficiency in the quarter. It looked like things were a lot more efficient on sort of a per user basis sequentially from the fourth quarter and from what we saw throughout last year. And I'm just wondering, is that a direct product of efficiency gains or is there some seasonality attached to that as we just think about the balance of 2021?

Jason Robins

Analyst · Bank of America.

There's always seasonality to marketing performance. Typically, though, what that results in is us just dialing up or down where we're investing based on the ROI we're seeing. I think Q1 was very similar to Q3 and Q4 where we spent more than we thought and had lower tax than we thought. So it was almost like we couldn't spend enough to hit our cap targets. And I think that efficiency was consistent, but a lot of what you see is that the customers that were acquired in Q3 and Q4 that remained active into Q1 boosted the MUPs numbers. And obviously we continue to add more but more exciting to me is the retention that we're seeing of the customers we acquired in the back half of last year. I think that was the largest driver of what we saw on the MUP front. And as far as future quarters and seasonality go, I think you'll see typical seasonal patterns. But as I mentioned, there is still this wildcard of this shift in the sports calendar. So I think it will be a bit different this year than in previous years. Typically, for example, we've seen good activity during the NBA and NHL playoffs. Having that overlap with baseball should provide better than I think typically what we've seen activity in the July timeframe and late June timeframe. And then I think also we'll have to see in the back half of the year what the leagues do, the NBA and NHL in particular, in terms of when they start their new seasons. Do they try to go back to the typical schedule in early Q4 or do they go with the late December, January schedule that they went with this past year? So I think that will also drive some activity. And then, of course, the NFL, assuming that goes according to plan, which right now we see no reason to believe it won't then that’s obviously going to be a big driver of activity as well.

Shaun Kelley

Analyst · Bank of America.

Thank you very much.

Jason Robins

Analyst · Bank of America.

You’re welcome.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Chad Beynon with Macquarie.

Chad Beynon

Analyst · Macquarie.

Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. Even with your recent acquisitions of VSiN and Blue Ribbon, which are sub $100 million in the quarter, following your convertible rates, you're still sitting with a ton of cash at the end of the quarter. Based on your projections for 2021 and how you know the business should ramp to become more profitable, how are you thinking about the best use of this cash, whether it be bigger acquisitions, more partnerships, or even considering something like a share repurchase, given the sell off? Thank you.

Jason Robins

Analyst · Macquarie.

That's a great question. I think right now, we're actively exploring multiple opportunities, some of which you mentioned and I think that really we're going to try to do whatever returns best on that capital. That's when you take in the capital even when we get the note at 0%, not a high bar there, but still we have our own internal thresholds for what we want to get return on -- what level of return we want to get on the capital we deploy and we're very disciplined about that. So I think really it's going to come down to us just rigorously evaluating different opportunities. And if we see great uses of capital that drive really strong returns, then we'll do it. If not, we'll be patient and deploy the capital as those things emerge.

Chad Beynon

Analyst · Macquarie.

Thanks. And then separately, I just wanted to revisit Canada. I understand that there's a federal bill that's kind of hung up right now. There's a separate one in Ontario and it seems like from a parental standpoint, they're extremely interested. If the federal bill doesn't pass, is there a path for you guys to be in the Ontario market? I guess from a limited basis, it won't be a comprehensive product but it still could have some type of a parlay, or would you wait for a federal bill to pass for you guys to enter that market? Thank you.

Jason Robins

Analyst · Macquarie.

It's a great question. I think, as you noted, parlays are still possible under current federal law. Obviously, it'd be great to get single event betting were the federal law to change. But parlays are still, obviously, very popular and I think perhaps more importantly, iGaming will be allowable in Canada, or at least -- excuse me, in Ontario. And that does not have any impact from federal law. So I think those two things, both parlay sports betting and iGaming are products we intend to launch regardless of what happens. We're not waiting. And assuming the federal law does change, then we'll also offer single event wagering as well.

Chad Beynon

Analyst · Macquarie.

I appreciate it. Nice results.

Jason Robins

Analyst · Macquarie.

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Daniel Adam with Loop Capital Markets.

Daniel Adam

Analyst · Loop Capital Markets.

Hi. Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. Jason, when you think about the long-term opportunity for DraftKings, does it make sense at some point to start thinking about the global TAM instead of just North America? Just for context, there is a daily fantasy company in India that reported 100 million users in March. So when I think about your 1.5 million MUPs, it would seem that the international opportunity for DraftKings could be massive which no one is really talking about right now. Is that something that factors into your long-term vision?

Jason Robins

Analyst · Loop Capital Markets.

Absolutely. It's a great question. So as you noted, there's a huge global opportunity, and as excited as we are in the U.S. and as much as we believe the U.S. will be the largest in the world, the rest of the world will certainly be larger combined. And our ambitions are to be a global company. So we think there's a lot of exciting opportunity out there. We're obviously closely following that daily fantasy company you mentioned and also following regulatory developments in markets around the world. Lots of things are opening up, not just the U.S. So I think that provides a huge runway for our growth and it's something we haven't talked as much about because we have been so focused on the U.S. But I think you're very smart to point out that there's a huge opportunity there that can keep our growth rolling for many years to come.

Daniel Adam

Analyst · Loop Capital Markets.

Great. Thanks.

Operator

Operator

Our last question comes from Ryan Sigdahl with Craig-Hallum Capital.

Ryan Sigdahl

Analyst

Good morning, guys. Just curious, you mentioned Michigan and Virginia, they're ramping faster than New Jersey, really strong GGR per capita. But other states haven't ramped quite as well; Indiana, Pennsylvania, Iowa, West Virginia, et cetera. So I guess what gives you confidence that Michigan and Virginia are the better proxies for future states versus the other ones I mentioned? Thanks.

Jason Robins

Analyst

Yes, it's a great question. What we showed in our Investor Day is that New Jersey is kind of right around the middle of the pack. So there will be states that grow faster, they will be states that grow slower. But I think what's really interesting with both Michigan and Virginia is it kind of further validates this notion that New Jersey is not some outlier that's just bigger than everything else. And we didn't have those two states on our Investor Day. Even without those two, New Jersey was already slightly below the median for the other states. So this just kind of brings that up even a little bit more and widens that gap more and gives us further confidence that New Jersey is at worst a good proxy and at best maybe a conservative proxy when you're trying to size the rest of the states. And then there’s a few examples where it's hard to compare apples-to-apples. You mentioned Iowa, for example. Iowa's tough to compare because Iowa for the first 18 months had no mobile registration. So, clearly, that would make it get off to a slower start. And I think once we saw mobile registration kick in earlier this year in Iowa, we started to see really strong ramp there. So, I think it will definitely depend. Pennsylvania is another interesting one. Pennsylvania, we have not invested as deeply in from a customer acquisition standpoint due to the tax rates there. It's just not as profitable as the market for us. So that's another one where I think perhaps in a different set up, it might have been the place that we could invest more. But really if you look at it, like I said from the macro standpoint, New Jersey is right around the middle of the pack and that was just a question we used to get a lot in the earlier days when everybody's using New Jersey as a proxy for what the rest of the U.S. could look like and I think the data that we've seen emerge further validates that it's a pretty good proxy and maybe even a conservative one.

Ryan Sigdahl

Analyst

Thanks. Good luck, guys.

Jason Robins

Analyst

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude the Q&A portion of the call. I'd like to turn the call back over to our host for any closing remarks.

Jason Robins

Analyst

Thank you. Thank you all for joining us on today's call. We really appreciate your questions and look forward to continuing our conversations with you. We had a very strong start to 2021 and continue to be excited about the future. DraftKings is well positioned with $2.8 billion in cash to enter new states as soon as practicable, to drive continued product innovation, to acquire customers, and to explore opportunistic M&A. I hope you all stay safe and well and we look forward to speaking with you on our next earnings call in August.

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today’s presentation. You may now disconnect and have a wonderful day.