Betting on the Super Bowl Scores Big Downloads

I noticed Draft Kings rose to (almost) the top of the App Store on Sunday, Super Bowl day. Considering this isn't betting for real money (depending on states, I think) I was surprised to see it up top.

But the spike was short-lived.

Looking at Draft Kings' downloads before and after Super Bowl weekend, the difference isn't as high as I had expected.

Downloads normally spike during the weekends, when more events take place, where Drafts Kings average about 40K downloads from the App Store, according to our estimates.

This Sunday, downloads were higher. Our estimates show a little over 71K downloads for the app from the App Store. That's almost double when compared to the average, but overall, not as many as I'd expect if we consider many of these were driven by big ad campaigns incentivizing a download by offering "free money".

The rules around advertising gambling apps are much stricter than other apps and games, making this a not-so-cheap push, and the resulting downloads don't feel high for what that is, in my opinion.

I usually show experiences that moved in-app from the real world. Betting isn't one of them.

Weekly News & Insights to Help Your App Win

Join 45,000+ developers, marketers, investors, and entrepreneurs who get smarter every week.


Related Resources

Insights
Locked at the Top - The Most Downloaded and Highest Earning Apps in February 2026

The same seven apps held the same seven download spots. Revenue told a different story, and a short-drama app from Singapore crashed the top 10.

Insights
Baseball's Biggest Pre-Season on Mobile

MLB app downloads jumped 43% this February while revenue climbed to $3.5M, signaling a stronger season ahead for baseball on mobile.