DraftKings CEO Jason Robins Talks Crypto Sports Betting

DraftKings CEO Jason Robinson is confident that cryptocurrencies will play a more prominent role in the sports betting and gaming ecosystem. In fact, DraftKings has not waited for events to catch up to it and is already blazing a trail with its dedicated DraftKings Marketplace which is centered around non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Cryptocurrency Betting Coming to Sportsbooks

The platform was launched with the help of Autograph, a blockchain platform owned by Tom Brady, and overall DraftKings has been known to be active in the cryptocurrency and NFT industry, with their CryptoPunk NFT prize, draws, T-shirts, and more. But now, Robins is talking business and he has suggested that DraftKings may start accepting bets and payments in cryptocurrencies directly.

He is confident that “people want it.” Speaking to Decrypt’s gm podcast, the executive argued that there is a lot of opportunity in the market. He said that the market conditions to make this happen were already there and that DraftKings is hard at work to realize this opportunity.

Of course, it’s not going to be smooth sailing as well. Robins is aware that regulatory hurdles will continue to throw a spanner in the works. Even though sports gambling is regulated and legal in the majority of US states now, not all of them accept cryptocurrencies.

In fact, in Wyoming, the state legislature passed a law enabling bets to be placed in cryptocurrencies, but no sportsbook has launched this option yet it seems. This is something that Robins acknowledged as well:

“Different products in different states might be more likely to be done earlier, and some may be out of our control.”

DraftKings CEO Jason Robins

Challenges Still Persist with Regulation and Onboarding

But Robins is aware of other challenges therein, such as the fact that people may be too new and unfamiliar with the way cryptocurrencies work, to begin with. To get to a point where they understand the industry a little better, they would need to be guided and introduced to the crypto sports gambling industry gradually.

The chief executive even believes that centralization, to begin with, would not be a bad thing. Introducing novice players to crypto betting may require a more centralized approach which could help with onboarding and also inspire trust in regulators who would be more lenient towards the idea. Either way, a state-by-state regulation would ultimately define the parameters of legal sports gambling, and Wyoming is a good example that this could be achieved already.