DraftKings Rises 10% in Public Debut During Freeze on Sports (1)

A stalled initial public offering, a failed merger, and one pandemic later, DraftKings Inc. is public.

The Boston-based sports-betting company jumped rose in its first trading day after completing a reverse merger with Diamond Eagle Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company. The $3.3 billion deal combining DraftKings and the gaming technology firm SBTech was approved Thursday.

Its shares, after climbing as much as 18%, closed up 10% to $19.35 in New York, giving the company a market value of $6.06 billion.

The DraftKings debut shows the continuing lure of both sports and public markets, even as both have ...