The Draftkings Sportsbook is a major player in US Mobile Sports Betting. An industry leader and innovator, Draftkings are set to have an enormous presence across the country as sports betting achieves legal status in each state. 

The New Jersey model, which has been in existence since August 2018, has allowed Draftkings to refine their mobile app, develop their web based platform and implement a market leading mobile betting experience where the customer is treated right. They have many of the key features a bettor is looking for in their sportsbook. They are without doubt a worthwhile addition to any sports bettor’s sportsbook portfolio.

The Take Away: The team at DraftKings approach sports betting the way it should be. A vehicle for entertainment with a chance to make a profit along the way. Whether you are an avid sports bettor or just beginning the journey, if you’re not on deck at DraftKings then pick up your bat and start swinging. The Game Starts Now!

Overall Rating: 78%

Ratings Methodology

In rating DraftKings Sportsbook, a weighting of 20% was given to each of the User Interface, Available Markets and Competitive Odds features. This weighting reflected those features that were deemed most important to an overall betting experience. A weighting of 10% was given to each of Live Betting and Promotions features and finally a 5% weighting was given to Payment Methods, Loyalty Rewards, Partner Deals and One Percenters.

The overall rating was then given by taking those individual weightings into account. It is important to note that a 100% rating would indicate the best possible online sportsbook model. There are some examples from international markets that give a pointer to what this ideal model may look like. At this point that model does not exist in the US as the online sports betting market is still maturing.

User Interface

The DraftKings web browser and mobile app user interfaces are good without being great. Having said that they are still very usable and in the leading pack as far as US online sportsbooks are concerned. Rest assured they will get better in a hurry!

The sleek lime green and black colouring sets the Sportsbook apart from the much more established DraftKings Daily Fantasy. It is easy on the eye and allows for longer odds viewing and research sessions. Something that is increasingly important as live betting becomes the norm.

There could be a better use of sliders on the home screens to alert bettors to current promotions but in all front screens are easy to navigate. The currently live and upcoming events are very apparent and featured events menu is useful when attempting to quickly get to a high volume market.

The casino games link on the sportsbook home page is possibly unnecessary. Having said that, many state laws dictate that Sportsbooks must partner with established casinos and Draftkings have gone on to ink a deal with Caesers to give them access to 12 markets outside of New Jersey.

Overall the user interface is inoffensive and the bones are there for a much better user product in the future! 

Available Markets

Focusing on the New Jersey market as the test case, Draftkings offers the full slate of sports available to any sportsbook in the state. While they don’t carry the same depth of NBA and NFL markets as Pointsbet, they do offer every major market and many props, futures and of course in-game options.

They cater for all major US sports and include development and minor leagues for the true sports specialist. Futures markets are well catered for with major sports futures posted early. For example golf futures include all four majors and the markets are up soon after the completion of the previous years tournament.

International sports are reasonably well covered with Soccer offerings being particularly thorough. If you can place a bet on the Slovenian Prva Liga then you know your sportsbook has you covered.

DraftKings also offer Cricket, Rugby, Darts and Austrailain Rules Football all on the board. Worthwhile for those looking to place an overnight account boosting parlay.

Competitive Odds

While Draftkings perhaps don’t offer the most competitive odds on all markets, for a corporate sportsbook they are pretty good. Most two sided markets on big ticket sports, like points spreads or points totals, offer -110 odds. Finding a -110 on the NBA and NFL is common place. Certainly not the worst in the business. Beating these odds may mean finding a better number as far as the spread or total points go.

Smaller league like the minor league baseball or the NBA Summer League may see two sided markets move out to -112 or -113. This becomes much harder for a bettor to beat long term. Due to the unpredictable nature and the lack of up to the minute team information in these types of league many sportsbooks will look to mitigate risk by taking more juice. Draftkings are not on their own here.

While Draftkings may be able to do better over time at bringing reduced juice odds to the table the point is no sportsbook will ever offer the best odds on every market. Bettors can always employ a multiple sportsbook approach and shop around for great prices. If a bettor leaned towards that tactic they would be crazy not to include Draftkings in their go to books.

Live Betting

The DraftKings Live Betting platform is really very good. It covers a vast array of sports and often many markets within each sport. Traditional live betting markets like Tennis, Soccer, American Football, Basketball and Baseball are well catered for. The accompanying stats hub is a great add on as it gives bettors access to some entry level statistical analysis which if nothing else helps them understand the variables of the game. Something all bettors need to have a grip on if they are going to succeed betting live.

The live odds are updated in real time and a live score and game clock are also visible next to the odds so the bettor is aware of the situation of the game. Often the in app live scores update quicker that the so called ‘live’ telecast.

The above screen shots demonstrate the depth of real time statistical analysis linked to real time odds. A bettor can investigate any aspect of the game and find an angle to target. A real combination of entertainment and skill.

Live betting will overtime become a staple for US bettors and all good sportsbooks need to have a platform that can handle the increased volume and hectic nature of getting a bet on live. Draftkings is well positioned to handle this increased traffic and this makes them an excellent live betting option.

Cash Out is also an offering from Draftkings that all bettors should be aware of. While it doesn;t always add great value there are times where it is very useful and the fact it is offered by Draftkings on the mobile app allows bettors to cash out with immediacy. A worthwhile feature for sure that is tied very closely to the live betting platform.

Promotions

The promotions run by Draftkings are very user friendly. They are simple to understand and do offer some real value if used correctly. The promotions can be accessed by hitting the promos tab on the top menu bar which is navigable from any page. This is useful because It is amazing, as a bettor, how often you are perusing odds and then have a thought to check what current promos are on offer for that sport. Quick access makes a big difference

The quality of the promotions are probably not market leading but still worthwhile in pursuing. An example is the Chase Aces in London promotion that ran during that Wimbledon tennis tournament. In this promotion bettors who placed a $25 wager on any quarter, semi or final in the Wimbledon draw received a $1 bonus bet for every ace their player served. Given that in a typical men’s grand slam match a players serves between 7 and 15 aces there is a reasonable bonus bet return on investment.

The daily odds boosts feature is also a worthwhile promotion and can at times offer real value for any bettor. They can be hard to pass up even if you are only staking 0.25 of a unit. Generally they give around a 10% boost to odds.

A very new addition is the same game parlay. This allows bettors to link moneyline, points spread, games totals etc from the one game into a parlay. Previously this has been not allowed as it would seem one leg of the parlay impacts the outcome of another leg. With some creative odds adjusting DraftaKings can now offer this type of parlay. Buyer beware as the odds don;t always reflect true value. Nevertheless a ton of fun!

There is room for improvement from Draftkings in this category. Having said that these promotions are worth accessing and begin part of the Draftkings community gives you a shot at them.

Deposit/Withdrawal Features

Draftkings offers bettors a few simple payment methods. This is a far more important consideration than many bettors give it credit. Immediacy of accessing your deposited funds gives a bettor the chance to hit a market quickly and not miss out on a golden betting opportunity. Withdrawing funds is the same. A bettor does not need to be waiting 5 business days to access winnings that are rightfully theirs. Thankfully DraftKings overcomes these issues.

Draftkings offers three payment methods:

• Bank Transfer
• Credit Card
• Debit Card

 Credit and Debit card deposits are virtually instant. The issue here is that some financial institutions are not supportive of using their credit/debit cards to deposit to gambling sites and others will charge a cash advance fee and charge a higher rate of interest on these transactions.

The bank transfer method is widely accepted by most banks but can take a couple of business days (in some cases up to 5) to appear in your account. In this case you need to be preplanned and process the deposit well before you wish to begin betting.

A less talked about method of depositing funds in your Draftkings sportsbook account is to move funds from your Draftkings Daily Fantasy account. The funds in the daily fantasy account need to have already been turned over once through that account before they are eligible for transfer to the sportsbook account. Once that requirement is met the funds transfer almost immediately.

As Draftkings matures in the sports betting space it is highly likely they will adopt a Draftkings branded card much like other sportsbooks have. The idea behind these cards is that by being powered by visa or mastercard, a prepaid amount of money can be loaded onto them from the bettor’s regular credit card.  The sportsbook branded card can then be used like any prepaid card, for retail transactions, cash withdrawals and most importantly to make an immediate deposit to the sports betting account.

The partnership with Caesers will most likely increase payment method options.

Loyalty Rewards Program

Draftkings does not yet offer any loyalty rewards program through their sportsbook. This could well be added in the future as the race to acquire and maintain you betting business is heating up.

Some other books will use points system to reward bettors for wagering activity. The rewards come in the form of bonus bets, merchandise or deals with partnered companies. Hopefully this is commonplace in the future.

Draftking uses a ‘crowns’ rewards system with their Daily Fantasy Sports players and perhaps an expansion of this may include their sportsbook community in the future.

Partner Deals

A huge benefit that is beginning to surface for sports bettors is the concept of a Sportsbook partner deal. Whether that be a discount with the trusted partner of the sportsbook or some other kind of benefit, these add real value to bettors.

Draftkings sportsbook is yet to offer any concrete partner deals but this may be coming when the developing partnership with Caesars rolls out. This space is very new and as yet there is not much action from any sportsbooks in this area just yet.

Expect deals with TV streaming providers, sports leagues, restaurant chains and so on. Draftkings DFS has already entered into a successful partnership with Buffalo Wild Wings and deals of this nature would put a smile on sports bettors faces.

Discount subscription fees on streaming of live sport is coming to this sector. First mover advantage will be enormous.

One Percenters

One percenters are those things that on there own offer only small benefit but as a collective can make a real difference. Draftkings offers some great one percenter value. 

The first being the obvious link to Daily Fantasy. If you are an avid DFS player, then linking that account with your sportsbook is a no brainer. It is interesting to note that once the accounts are linked the sportsbook does throw up some betting suggestions to the bettor focussed around their fantasy plays. This would be seen as a positive by some and perhaps a bit too much suggestive selling by others.

Another clear one percenter is the ‘line moves’ section of the stats hub pictured above. This allows bettors to investigate markets where the line has had a significant move over time. It can be useful in helping any bettor make decisions but perhaps its best use is in teaching a beginning bettor that lines can and do move and ‘buying’ at the right time is the key to becoming profitable.

The odds settings changer is a useful tool. Let’s face it American odds can at times be confusing for beginning bettors. The decimal odds system is quite simple and gives more clear indication of the total payout based on the stake. The odds setting changer allows bettors to choose their preferred method. Each to their own.

DraftKings pools are an excellent addition to the US sportsbetting space. While I have included them in the one percenters category at the moment they have the potential to grow to something much larger. They allow players to enter the sports betting space on a budget and extract maximum fun from a weekend’s slate of games.

Essentially a bettor contributes a one off amount at the start of a round eg $5.00, then pits there sports prediction skills against other players. The best performed players receive a share of the pool at the end. This is a wonderful introductory product. It can even be run as a private pool with an office or family group. Currently DraftKings only offers ‘pick em’ pools focussing on moneyline, points spreads and game totals but this is set to be majorly expanded. Watch this space!!

I have no doubt Draftkings will continue to develop these one percenter features going forward and continue to improve the user experience for all bettors. 

 

Three Areas for Improvement

User interface

The user interface does have some room for improvemt but let’s be honest device functionality improves so quickly that keeping up is a constant battle. DraftKings will quickly develop into something much more spectacular.

Two other more immediate user interface improvements on the web browser would be, firstly, a retractable bet slip to allow for more display space. Perhaps it should expand into view when the mouse is scrolled across it but otherwise minimise to the right of the screen. It could include a notification symbol showing the amount of selections already on the slip.

The second improvement would be to add sport subheadings under each main sport in the menu. When the user scrolls over it they see a list of options within that sport which allows for faster navigation. For example if the user scrolls over basketball they would see subheadings for NBA, NBA Summer League, College and FIBA World Cup. There are times when a bettor wants to get action on a non featured sport and need to do it quickly. At the moment a bettor would need to navigate through to the basketball page then further navigate through to the specific league.

Loyalty Program

This is something that I expect will be added in the near future and based on DraftKings track record it will be a good one.

Bettors are constantly being coaxed by sportsbooks to bring their action over. A good loyalty rewards program keeps bettors activity where it is. Accruing points for placing bets that can then be used on bonus bets, merchandise or deals with partnered companies is a must in this environment.

Promotions 

DraftKings promotional offers are, as mentioned earlier, quite good. One small area of improvement I would hope to see soon, is on specific sports pages, where an alert banner could appear to signal to bettors that a related promotion is available. As it  stands the bettor needs to navigate back to the promotions page to check which ones might relate.

For example when the chase the ace promotion is active, a banner should appear when a bettor is on the tennis betting pages so they know the promotion is available to them. There are not many more frustrating things than placing a bet on a sport then realising there was a promotion available for that market which you have missed.

The Game Starts Now!

DraftKings rating of 78% is full of upside. The experience any bettor can expect from DraftKings is good and getting better all the time. We recommend all bettors have an active account at DraftKings and be part of ‘The Game Within The Game’.