DraftKings Announces Job Cuts Amid AI Integration and Market Competition

DraftKings is cutting jobs, as the sports betting giant tightens its belt amid growing competition from lightly regulated prediction markets . The Boston-based company, which employed 5,500 people across 13 countries at the end of 2025, declined to disclose how many jobs were eliminated or where. The company is moving its office from the Back Bay to the financial district next year, though it’s planning to occupy roughly the same 125,000 square feet footprint of its current headquarters. “DraftKings has decided to reorganize some teams to better align their people with the most important priorities and areas of investment for the company,” the company said in an emailed statement on Tuesday. “Unfortunately, these changes will impact some roles across the organization.” FEATURED VIDEO Shares of Draftkings have lost 36 percent so far this year, even as the company’s revenues and profit continue to grow. Investors are worried that DraftKings and its rivals such as FanDuel owner Flutter Entertainment will lose business to fast-growing prediction markets , which offer wagers on many sporting events and claim to be regulated by federal law, not state gambling restrictions. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Earlier this month, DraftKings reported its revenue increased 43 percent to almost $2 billion in the fourth quarter, while adjusted earnings per share more than doubled to 36 cents. The company forecast revenue would increase only about 14 percent this year, however. Chief executive Jason Robins is trying to convince Wall Street that DraftKings can expand its overall business by offering its own prediction market in states that have not legalized gambling, while mainly sticking with its classic mobile app in states that have approved betting. Advertisement “When a new growth lane opens, we move fast and execute at scale,” Robins said on a Feb. 13 call with analysts. “Predictions is the most exciting new growth opportunity we have seen since ... 2018.” The job cuts could total 5 percent of DraftKings’ workforce, saving the company about $30 million per year, analyst Jordan Bender at Citizens Bank wrote in a report on Tuesday. The cuts should give the company a “cushion” to meet Wall Street’s expectations even as the company spends more on its new predictions market offering, Bender wrote. DraftKings already offers online sports betting in 26 states and pays substantial taxes on the wagers in those states, including 20 percent in Massachusetts and 50 percent in Illinois. Prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket, however, claim to be exempt from state restrictions and are seeking to offer gambling-like bets in all states without paying state taxes. Massachusetts and other states have sued the prediction markets in effort to block the unregulated competition. Meanwhile, DraftKings has moved to offer its own prediction market in states where it does not offer state-regulated betting. On Tuesday, DraftKings did not mention AI as a reason for the recent layoffs. Last year, chief executive Robins said his company would be “able to basically replace what would have been human hires with AI agents and also reduce [workers] in certain areas as well.” Still, the company is using AI to increase efficiency in writing software code, business proposals, and other items, which could lead to more job cuts in the future, Citizens analyst Bender noted. Advertisement “We could expect more cost structure rationalization in the coming quarters to years as the business continues to benefit from AI and maturing markets,” he wrote. In 2023, the company cut 140 jobs, or 3.5 percent of its global workforce, amid major layoffs across the tech sector. Aaron Pressman can be reached at aaron.pressman@globe.com . Follow him @ampressman .