What happened
Shares of DraftKings (DKNG -0.37%) fell 4% on Wednesday after announcing a partnership with DISH Network (DISH) to incorporate its sports betting and daily fantasy-sports operations into the satellite TV service. DISH shares were up 1.6% on the day.
So what
The direction for DraftKings' stock seems surprising. The partnership with DISH vastly expands DraftKings' exposure to potential sports bettors by putting it in front of DISH's subscribers who have its Hopper DVR set-top box. However, customers can only place bets in states where sport betting is available to DraftKings account holders.
Another limitation is the deal only allows a user to initiate a wager on the TV, not actually place the bet. Once the wager is started, a text message is sent telling the bettor to complete the transaction on the DraftKings app on their mobile device.
Image source: DraftKings.
Now what
It's certainly a "first-of-a-kind" deal as the announcement touts, and the partnership will eventually extend to subscribers to DISH's Sling TV and Boost Mobile services. But it's not much of a game changer since the transaction still needs to be completed on a mobile device.
A person interested in placing wagers on an event could already have DraftKings' app open on their phone.
What it does do, though, is place the DraftKings brand in front of viewers. This could serve as a prod to place a bet where one might otherwise not have been placed. However, no timetable was provided for when the service would appear on the media service.
