Put "bet365" and "DraftKings" next to each other and it reads like a choice between two flavors of the same product. It isn’t. One is a UK bookmaker that has been taking bets since 2001 and still answers to the family that founded it. The other is a Boston DFS startup that went public on Nasdaq and built a sportsbook on top of its fantasy-sports user base. bet365 vs DraftKings is really a question of which state-licensed footprint reaches you first.
Same license type, different company entirely
bet365 was founded in 2000 by Denise Coates, reportedly out of a portable building behind her family’s Stoke-on-Trent betting shops. It is still majority family-owned — not publicly traded — with corporate headquarters in Gibraltar and its largest operational site still in Stoke-on-Trent. DraftKings is the opposite structure: founded in 2012 by Jason Robins, Matt Kalish, and Paul Liberman, Nasdaq-listed as DKNG since April 2020, with quarterly earnings calls and no controlling family stake. Both file for state licenses the same way; who they report to afterward is not the same at all.
bet365 vs DraftKings, side by side
| bet365 | DraftKings | |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2000, Stoke-on-Trent, England | 2012, Boston, Massachusetts |
| Ownership | Majority family-owned (Coates family), not public | Independent, Nasdaq-listed (DKNG) |
| US sportsbook footprint | 17 states (Sept 2026) | 27 states + D.C. (Aug 2026) |
| Casino states | NJ, PA | CT, MI, NJ, PA, WV |
| Non-US business | Large UK/European bookmaker, licensed since 2001 | Minimal — DFS/media presence in some countries, no comparable book |
| Not live (sportsbook) | California, Texas, Florida, and every non-listed state | California, Texas, Florida, and every non-listed state |
Where each one is actually live
DraftKings simply covers more ground. As of August 2026 its sportsbook is live in 27 states plus Washington D.C.; bet365’s US sportsbook, as of September 2026, is live in 17. Every state on bet365’s list also has DraftKings, but DraftKings adds states — among them several New England and Great Plains states — where bet365 has not yet obtained a license. Neither company has cracked California, Texas, or Florida, and a reader in one of those states gets the same honest answer from both brands: no legal sportsbook yet, from either one.
Casino overlap is exactly two states
New Jersey and Pennsylvania are the only states where both companies run an online casino, which makes them the only states where a direct casino comparison is even possible. DraftKings extends further into Connecticut, Michigan, and West Virginia, states where bet365 has no casino product at all. bet365’s casino presence depends on skin partnerships — Hard Rock Atlantic City in New Jersey, Presque Isle Downs in Pennsylvania — rather than a standalone license the way DraftKings operates its five-state casino map.
Which one for who
Live somewhere only one of the two has a sportsbook license? That settles it — check the state page before reading any further. Live somewhere both are licensed? bet365 is the pick for a reader who values a long international regulatory history and doesn’t need a wide US casino map. DraftKings is the pick for a reader who wants the broader casino footprint, or who’d rather back a company whose entire business model is the US market. Neither is the "better" sportsbook in the abstract; the state page and the casino states are what actually decide it.
This page does not point a reader in a bet365-only or DraftKings-only state toward an offshore workaround. If neither has a sportsbook where you live, the honest answer is that there isn’t a legal one yet.