DraftKings Beats on Revenue. The Stock Is Rising.

DraftKings is putting a surcharge on bets in Illinois to reflect a new state tax on licensed sportsbooks. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

DraftKings beat expectations for June quarter earnings and reaffirmed its outlook for the full year. Its stock rose 3.5% in after-hours trading.

The online and mobile sports-betting platform reported second quarter earnings of 30 cents a share and a 36.9% jump in revenue to $1.5 billion from a year ago.

Analysts expected DraftKings to report earnings of 15 cents a share on revenue of $1.42 billion, according to FactSet. In the second quarter of 2024, the company reported earnings of 12 cents a share on revenue of $1.10 billion.

The Boston-based company attributed the revenue jump to healthy customer engagement, efficient new customer acquisition, and good outcomes in its sportsbook operation.

But monthly unique players fell short of expectations. The metric was 3.3 million in the quarter, versus analyst expectations for 3.8 million, according to FactSet. While an increase of 6% from a year ago, it was down from 4.34 million in the first quarter.

For the full year, it maintained guidance for revenue in a range of $6.2 billion to $6.4 billion, the same level it cut its earlier forecast to in May.

Investors are also listening for any updates on what DraftKings and rival Flutter Entertainment , the owner of FanDuel, say about Illinois’ new tax on mobile and online sports bets. Under the state’s new budget, licensed sportsbooks are required to pay a 25-cent tax on each of the first 20 million wagers they accept each year, and a 50-cent tax on every additional bet after that. That’s on top of a current 0.25% excise tax at the federal level.

DraftKings said in June that Illinois lawmakers were aiming to “more than triple our tax rate over the past two years,” and said that it plans to add a 50-cent transaction fee on all mobile and online bets placed through its sportsbook in Illinois, starting Sept. 1. FanDuel was the first to announce a 50-cent surcharge on bets in Illinois.

DraftKings CEO Jason Robins said at the time that lawmakers were jeopardizing the regulated betting industry and that surcharges would drive bettors to unregulated platforms that don’t contribute to state revenue. “Illinois continues to fuel the rapidly growing illegal industry, which pays no taxes or fees and provides none of the consumer protections that regulated operators offer.”

DraftKings’ management will discuss second-quarter results and performance on a conference call at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time on Thursday.

Flutter Entertainment will report its second-quarter results after Thursday’s market close and discuss financial results at 4:30 p.m. Eastern.

Write to Janet H. Cho at janet.cho@dowjones.com