DraftKings has agreed to pay $200,000 to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to settle a case regarding sensitive financial information that was posted on social media.

The charge is in relation to posts made by the company’s chief executive officer, Jason Robins, on a personal social media account in July 2023.

Robins had posted that DraftKings was showing “really strong growth” in states where it was already live.

The company’s PR company posted a similar statement on Robins’ LinkedIn account on the same day.

The posts were published before the company had released its financial results for the second quarter of 2023 and the information had not been publicly disclosed.

DraftKings is required under the SEC’s Regulation Fair Disclosure directive to inform investors of the kind of information that was hinted at in the social media posts. This information was not disclosed to the wider public until a week later.

As a result, DraftKings was charged with a breach of Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.

Following the charge, the Boston-based company has agreed to pay a $200,000 settlement to the SEC, and to cease and desist from future violations. The company has also agreed to provide training to staff who are in charge of corporate communications.

“Information about growth in sales as a public company can be extremely important to investors,” said John Dugan, associate director for enforcement in the SEC’s Boston regional office. “It is essential that, when companies disseminate material, nonpublic information, they do so fairly to all investors.”

Shares in DraftKings Inc. (NASDAQ:DKNG) closed 2.87 per cent lower at $39.20 per share in New York Monday.