DraftKings Shares Plummet After MLB Postpones Games

It was exciting to watch the MLB season finally start but the league has just suffered a hiccup a few weeks in.

Due to the coronavirus outbreak, the MLB has postponed two games. It was on Monday that the Major League Baseball postponed the Miami Marlins game against the Baltimore Orioles and the Philadelphia Phillies’ game against the New York Yankees.

As a result, shares of sports-betting provider DraftKings closed down 6.48%. DraftKings said that MLB was the most popular sport of its sports book this weekend.

It was this past weekend that DraftKings had the second-best day since the March shutdowns began.
In May CEO Jason Robins had said, “People are hungry for sports to come back.” Now there is a concern that games could be put on pause yet again.

“The health and safety of the athletes and sports community should always be the first priority and we commend the leagues and teams for taking this process seriously and making decisions based on what’s best for the health of their teams,” the company said in a statement.

A coronavirus outbreak has spread throughout the Marlins clubhouse and brought the total cases in recent days to at least 13, sources familiar with the situation told ESPN’s Jeff Passan and Jesse Rogers.

“The members of the Marlins’ traveling party are self-quarantining in place while awaiting the outcome of those results,” MLB said in a statement. “Major League Baseball has been coordinating with the Major League Baseball Players Association; the Marlins; the Orioles; the Marlins’ weekend opponent, the Phillies; and Club medical staffs, and will continue to provide updates as appropriate.”

The Marlins also released a statement on behalf of CEO Derek Jeter which reads, “The health of our players and staff has been and will continue to be our primary focus as we navigate through these unchartered waters,” he said. “After a successful Spring 2.0, we have now experienced challenges once we went on the road and left Miami. Postponing tonight’s home opener was the correct decision to ensure we take a collective pause and try to properly grasp the totality of this situation.”

Disclaimer: We have no position in Draftkings Inc. (NASDAQ: DKNG) and have not been compensated for this article.