DraftKings Legal Chief Dodge Hits Pay Jackpot on Stock Awards

DraftKings Inc.’s chief legal officer R. Stanton Dodge more than doubled his total compensation last year as sports betting markets continued to expand.

Dodge received a pay package valued at almost $14.6 million during 2022, up from the $6.4 million he earned the year prior.

The payday is still far short of the roughly $56 million that DraftKings disclosed for Dodge in 2020 when the Boston-based daily fantasy sports provider went public by merging with a special purpose acquisition company.

DraftKings didn’t immediately respond to a comment request.

The company has periodically awarded large grants of stock to senior executives as incentives for long-term growth. Dodge’s total compensation last year was boosted by nearly $13.5 million in stock awards, per a proxy statement.

Dodge also received about $1.1 million in cash, including $500,000 in base salary and $584,000 in non-equity incentive plan compensation.

DraftKings hired Dodge from Dish Network Corp. in 2017, a year before the US Supreme Court struck down a federal law restricting sports betting.

During the next few years DraftKings and other companies rapidly expanded their operations as a growing number of US states embraced sports betting and sought to tax its proceeds. As part of that growth, DraftKings and its competitors embarked on a hiring spree to build up their legal and compliance functions.

The company within the past year has hired at least a half-dozen new lawyers, including senior corporate counsel for commercial transactions Christopher Harrington, who had most recently been an associate general counsel for the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers. Other new recruits are former associates from Jones Day, Mintz Levin, McCarter & English, Paul Hastings, Sidley Austin, and Venable, according to LinkedIn profiles and state bar records.

DraftKings has also watched some lawyers depart. David Yatom, a senior legal director, left this month to become general counsel for casino and sportsbook platform provider Soft2Bet. Vendr Inc., a software company, hired DraftKings associate general counsel Russell Tanguay last year as its head of legal.

DraftKings CEO Jason Robins told Bloomberg Television in an interview last month that the company needs to become more efficient by cutting costs and growing revenue as it waits for other markets, such as California, to open up to online sports betting. DraftKings took a hit last year after some customer accounts were affected by unauthorized withdrawals.

The company, which last year opened a sportsbook at Wrigley Field in Chicago, is also considering a broader partnership with Walt Disney Co.-owned ESPN.

In its proxy, filed March 24, DraftKings noted that board member and vice chairman Harry Sloan last year received about $276,500 in total compensation. Sloan, a former lawyer who served as chairman of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., was part of the SPAC that combined with DraftKings.