Walt Disney Acquires Stake in DraftKings

Walt Disney Company has secured a stake in DraftKings, daily fantasy sports-turned-sportsbook, as part of its acquisition of 21st Century Fox.

Disney secured the stake as part of its $71.3 billion purchase of the film and entertainment business. The revelations come just a few weeks after Disney CEO Bob Iger said Disney doesn’t “intend to go into the gambling business.”

“We’ve already done some things that we would integrate it into our programming, but not to the extent that we would be facilitating gambling as an entity. In other words, we’ll provide programming that will, I guess, be designed to enlighten people who are betting on sports. But that’s as far as we would go,” Iger said on a conference.

Disney also intends to use the studio to have a presence at sports betting events that are hosted in Las Vegas. NHL’s Golden Knights and the NFL’s Raiders will move to a stadium just off the Las Vegas Strip in 2020. On the call with analysts, Iger pointed to NFL Sunday Ticket and said there has been “some exploration as to whether there was an opportunity there.”

“I think we all believe that there are opportunities to strengthen our relationship with them,” Iger said.