Why DraftKings Plunged Today

Group 1 - DraftKings shares fell 10.2% due to competitive pressures from privately held Kalshi and negative consumer sentiment data [1][5][8] - Kalshi, a private betting platform, has recently expanded into real-time sports betting and achieved record trading volumes over the weekend, posing a competitive threat to DraftKings [2][3][4] - Despite reporting a 45% increase in sports book handle revenue, DraftKings showed signs of potential deceleration with only an 11% increase in overall sports book betting volumes and flat unique visitor numbers [4][5] Group 2 - The recent consumer sentiment reading from The Conference Board was worse than expected, negatively impacting consumer discretionary stocks, including DraftKings [5][8] - DraftKings is currently trading at 28 times this year's earnings expectations and 18.6 times 2026 earnings estimates, which is not considered expensive for a growth company, but risks increase if growth decelerates or margins compress [9]