• by Wayne Friedman , November 13, 2020

The return of major professional sports franchises to TV screens -- the NFL, Major League Baseball, NBA, and the NHL -- helped sports betting business DraftKings witness gains in revenue and users in its third-quarter reporting period.

The company witnessed a 64% hike in subscribers to a million monthly unique users -- what the company calls "payers" -- with revenues at $133 million -- almost double compared to the same period a year ago ($67 million).

DraftKings now expects higher revenues for 2020 overall -- a range of $540 to $560 million, up from $500 to $540 million.

For 2021, DraftKings said it is projecting $750 million to $850 million in revenue.

The company posted a net loss of $347.8 million up from $55.9 million in the third quarter a year before.

Its average revenue per monthly unique payer was $34 -- down from $36 the year before, due the scarcity of professional sports activity in July because of pandemic issues.

DraftKings' sales and marketing expense increased nearly threefold to $203.3 million in the period.

Among a number of partnership deals made in the period, DraftKings made a multi-year agreement with ESPN to become a co-exclusive sportsbook provider and exclusive daily fantasy sports provider. Sports betting has increasing become legal in many states.

While professional sports competition returned starting in August, it has come with limited at-stadium fans. TV ratings for sports events -- apart from the NFL -- has seen significant declines of 30% or more.