Betting On Draftkings
Top Takeaways for 2021
DraftKings offers betting pools, daily fantasy sports, instant bets, and a Sports Betting National Championship contest in addition to all standard bet types. While DraftKings provides top-notch mobile betting and live betting, I was most impressed by the sportsbook’s pre-game statistics and betting trends. DraftKings is in a class of its own. DraftKings Sports Betting Pools. DraftKings Pools are a sort of cross between daily fantasy and traditional sports betting in which you sign up for a contest, pay an entry fee and then make a number of straight-up picks. Then, prizes are paid out to the players who make the most correct picks in a tournament-style structure. View golf odds and bet online legally, securely, and easily on men's and women's PGA events. The DraftKings betting site charges you a vig (or a percentage of your bet) of -110for each of these single-game NFL bets, which means the site will take 10% of your bet for itself. In this scenario, your two separate $10 wagers would return you $38.20 if you won both bets.
After testing 20 online sportsbooks for our 2021 review, here are our top findings on DraftKings Sportsbook:
- DraftKings offers the widest variety of bets I’ve seen so far from a sportsbook. DraftKings offers betting pools, daily fantasy sports, instant bets, and a Sports Betting National Championship contest in addition to all standard bet types.
- While DraftKings provides top-notch mobile betting and live betting, I was most impressed by the sportsbook’s pre-game statistics and betting trends. DraftKings is in a class of its own in this category, giving users statistics, injuries, team standings, and betting insights to make informed bets. No other sportsbooks offer the same quality or quantity of useful pre-game information.
- Bonuses and promotions are abundant at DraftKings. While some of the rollover requirements for new users are higher than average, there are an above-average amount of seasonal promotions for bettors to take advantage of throughout the year.
States Supported: Colorado, Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.
Casino: Online casino is offered only in Michigan (2021), New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. DraftKings offers over 100 slots, roulette, blackjack, and virtual poker games; however, online poker is not available. Note: This review focuses on sports betting and not casino.
Overall Summary
| Feature | DraftKings Sportsbook |
|---|---|
| Overall | 5 Stars |
| Sports & Bets Offered | 5 Stars |
| Odds | 3.5 Stars |
| Live Betting | 5 Stars |
| Mobile Betting | 5 Stars |
| Bonuses & Promotions | Stars |
| Education | 4 Stars |
| Ease of Use | 5 Stars |
Sports and Bets Offered
Plain and simple, DraftKings offers one of the best varieties of bet types. Besides offering over 100 total bets on most games, DraftKings offers pools contests and a full suite of daily fantasy sports contests. Pools contests are unique to DraftKings, while DraftKings and FanDuel are the only two sportsbooks to offer daily fantasy sports.
Pool contests: Pool contests are based on predicting winners for multiple events. There are two types of pool contests, free ones put on by DraftKings and private ones that users can host with friends. Some of the contests put on by DraftKings have prize pools up to $100,000. These contests are free to enter, and I've had a blast participating in them.
Pool contest example: A sample private contest would be picking the spread winners for each NFL game on a Sunday. Each of your friends would throw in a set amount of money (host chooses), and cash is paid out to the top three people. The ability to host a contest like this with your friends is something I’ve wanted to do for years, and I look forward to doing it once DraftKings is live in Michigan.
Other bet types: Like most of the industry, DraftKings offers the cash-out feature, as well as daily odds boosts. The cash-out feature allows you to close out your active bets before each game's outcome is decided. At the same time, odds boosts act like a retail store sale, offering more incentive to make each bet. For example, DraftKings might increase the odds of James Harden scoring 42 points in a game from +150 to +210.
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Odds
The following table compares DraftKings odds to other sports betting apps.
| Feature | DraftKings Sportsbook |
|---|---|
| NFL Moneyline | Best |
| NBA Moneyline | Above Average |
| NCAAF Moneyline | Worst |
| Soccer Moneyline | Above Average |
| MLB Moneyline | Average |
| NHL Moneyline | Best |
| NHL Spread | Below average |
| MLB Spread | Average |
| NBA Spread | Below Average |
| NCAAF Spread | Below Average |
| NFL Spread | Below Average |
| Odds | 3.5 Stars |
Methodology: To score Odds, BettingBuck.com gathers data from 21 sportsbooks over several months. For our 2020 Sportsbook Review, over 10,000 data points were collected for spread, moneyline, and over/under (bets).
I collected odds for spread, moneyline, and total bets for over 75 NFL games, 75 MLB games, 75 NBA games, 75 NHL games, 75 Soccer games (various leagues), and 75 NCAA Football and 75 NCAA Basketball games. When collecting odds, I made sure to collect the same games simultaneously for each sportsbook, ensuring data accuracy.
Live Betting
Live betting, or betting on games that have already started, is an area where DraftKings holds its own with the best of the best. Like other top sportsbooks, DraftKings offers prop bets, instant bets, a live match tracker, and live scores.
Prop bets: DraftKings offers a ton of in-play bets and prop bets. An example of a prop bet is, “How many strikeouts will Justin Verlander throw?” An example of a live prop bet is, “Will Manchester United or Liverpool score in the next five minutes?”
Instant bets: Examples of instant betting include betting on the next swing of a tennis match or the next drive of a football game. DraftKings goes toe-to-toe with the best live betting sportsbooks, offering instant bets on tennis points and 'next drive results' or “next play run/pass” on NFL games.
Live match tracker: A live match tracker is an animated graphic that updates in real-time as you are watching a game. A match tracker has a live clock, displays the score by quarter, and even shows which team is attacking. For NFL games, the match tracker also lists the last play, the total plays and yards on the drive, and the down and distance. DraftKing’s live match tracker for NFL games displays a virtual NFL field, an upgrade I enjoyed compared to most competitors.
Live Streaming: The only feature DraftKings does not offer is live streaming, which allows you to stream games live in the app. Live streaming, currently offered by a select few sportsbooks, such as BetRivers and FanDuel, is currently limited to tennis and soccer games.
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DraftKings Sportsbook App
There is a lot to like about the DraftKings Sportsbook mobile app, which I found to be one of the most complete online sports betting apps.
Likes: DraftKings makes it easy to place bets, view different games and leagues, and look up statistics. Furthermore, viewing all the bets offered on a particular game is seamless. Checking open and settled bets is also easy, whereas some other competitors make navigation complicated. DraftKings also includes a button to switch over to the Daily Fantasy Sports app quickly.
Dislikes: Educational content is displayed under account settings, making it difficult to find for beginners.
Statistics: If you value betting trends and quirky statistics, look no further than DraftKings. Powered by iSport Genius, DraftKings simultaneously provides the most pre-game statistics alongside the highest-quality pre-game statistics of any sportsbook I’ve tested. Betting insights, stats, trends, and more are colorfully displayed throughout the DraftKings app for most leagues and games.
Pregame stats: Game previews include a betting preview, betting trends, team standings, stats about each team, and injury information. The betting preview offers each team’s performance over the last few games as well as fun facts such as, “Each of the Rams’ last six games have gone under the total points line.”
Pregame betting trends: Meanwhile, betting trends include information such as how the betting line (spread) has moved for each team. Stats include things such as how often each team covers the spread or how well each team plays when leading at half-time. There’s a lot to like.
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Education
DraftKings is one of the top sportsbooks in terms of educational content provided for new bettors. Considering few sportsbooks go above and beyond with educational materials, the benefit to beginners cannot be understated.
Pros: Unlike competitors, DraftKings offers sports betting guides for the most popular sports. These guides are short and easily digestible, appealing to new bettors. DraftKings also does a good job explaining different bet types, using images of what these bet types look like in the sportsbook.
Cons: Unfortunately, I was disappointed to see that DraftKings removed educational videos featuring NBA-Legend Charles Barkley that provided a more in-depth description of different bet types.
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Bonuses & Promotions
DraftKings offers promotions for first-time bettors and a variety of ongoing promotions for existing customers. Meanwhile, for existing customers, numerous in-season promotions are available for major leagues and sporting events.
New customer bonuses: For new customers, DraftKings typically offers a 20% deposit bonus up to $1,000 or a risk-free bet up to $500. Both of these bonuses come with rollover requirements. If a bettor deposits $100 and receives a $50 bonus with a 5X rollover, it means they must wager $750 ($100 + $50)*5. Rollover requirements can vary from 1X – 25X, which is why I always read the terms and conditions before accepting a bonus.
Sports Betting National Championship: During January 11-13th of 2019, DraftKings hosted their first sports betting national championship. There was over $2.5M in guaranteed prizes, with over $1M awarded to the winner. Entries into the contest cost $10,000 or are earned by winning a daily fantasy sports qualifier.
Bettors received a $5,000 bankroll for the weekend, intending to have the biggest bankroll at the end of the weekend. The 25 bettors with the highest bankrolls at the end of the weekend took home prizes ranging from $15,000 to $1,000,000. While this contest was canceled due to COVID-19 game cancellations in 2020, DraftKings will likely bring the contest back for 2021.
While my fiancé would never let me enter a contest with this type of entry fee, it is a unique attraction that high-stakes gamblers will appreciate.
DraftKings Championship Series: Throughout 2020, DraftKings hosted season one of their first Championship Series, a collection of contests throughout the year aimed at crowning a “King of Daily Fantasy Sports” and “King of Sports Betting.”
Contests for both daily fantasy sports and sports betting range from entry fees of $20 - $1,000 or more but feature prizes over six figures. DraftKings dished out over $100M in its first season of Championship Series. Again, no other sportsbook features this many huge contests throughout the year.
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Final Thoughts
DraftKings is the complete package for both new and experienced sports bettors. The variety of sports and bets offered, the outstanding education and statistics, and the unique live betting experience makes DraftKings a winner in 2021.
Regardless of your betting style, DraftKings is a reliable, full-service sportsbook that sets the bar high for its competitors.
About DraftKings Sportsbook
DraftKings (NYSE: DKNG) has been around as a Daily Fantasy Sports company since 2012, adding sports betting to its repertoire in 2018 when the Supreme Court overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PAPSA).
DraftKings has a market capitalization of over $18.81 billion as of November 2020. Read more on Wikipedia. DraftKings Sportsbook is available online in 8 states, which is more than any other sportsbook.
What states is DraftKings sportsbook legal in?
DraftKings Sportsbook App is legal in Colorado, Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. DraftKings Daily Fantasy Sports is available in over 40 states.
What deposit methods does DraftKings Sportsbook offer?
Draftkings Casino Nj
Bettors can currently deposit via credit/debit card, PayPal, bank transfer, and play+ prepaid cards. Maximum deposits start at $2,000 and vary by account.
| Feature | DraftKings Sportsbook |
|---|---|
| Minimum Deposit | $5 |
| Total Deposit Methods | 8 |
| No Debit/Credit Card Deposit Fees | Yes |
| Deposit Min/Max - Debit/Credit Card | $5/$2,000 |
What withdrawal methods does DraftKings Sportsbook offer?
DraftKings currently processes withdrawals via check, PayPal, ACH (e-check), and cash at certain casinos.
| Feature | DraftKings Sportsbook |
|---|---|
| Minimum Withdrawal | $1 - $15 |
| Total Withdrawal Methods | 4 |
| Check Payout Speed is < 10 days | Yes |
| No Withdrawal Fees - Check | Yes |
| Withdrawal Min/Max - Check | $5/Varies |
What is the minimum deposit at DraftKings Sportsbook?
The minimum amount required to open an account at DraftKings Sportsbook is $10.
What kind of customer support does DraftKings offer?
DraftKings offers live chat and email support for general support inquiries. DraftKings does not currently have dedicated phone lines for sportsbook phone support. Instead, they have a callback form, where an employee will call you after you fill out your contact information.
Betting On Draftkings
What sports can you bet on at DraftKings
DraftKings Sportsbook currently offers bettors 15 sports, ranging from football to darts to motorsports. DraftKings offers a variety of international and domestic leagues, especially for soccer.
| Feature | DraftKings Sportsbook |
|---|---|
| Total Sports Offered | 15 |
| Aussie Rules (AFL) | Yes |
| Baseball (MLB) | Yes |
| Basketball (NBA) | Yes |
| Basketball (NCAA) | Yes |
| Boxing | Yes |
| Cricket | Yes |
| E-Sports | No |
| Football (NFL) | Yes |
| Football (NCAA) | Yes |
| Golf (PGA) | Yes |
| Hockey (NHL) | Yes |
| Horse Racing | No |
| MMA (UFC) | Yes |
| Rugby (League) | No |
| Rugby (Union) | Yes |
| Soccer (EPL) | Yes |
| Soccer (MLS) | Yes |
| Tennis | Yes |
| Sports & Bets Offered | 5 Stars |
Methodology
For the BettingBuck.com annual best online sportsbooks review published in 2020, a total of 2,300 data points were collected over six months and used to score sportsbooks. Additionally, odds data was collected for each sportsbook on over 1,400 bets to give each sportsbook a comparative odds ranking.
Sports betting sites were scored across seven core categories to computer an overall rating: total number of sports and bets offered, odds, live betting features, mobile apps, educational resources, ease of use, and current bonuses.
Learn more about how we test.
About the author: Joey Shadeck Joey Shadeck is the lead writer for BettingBuck.com and content strategist for Michigan-based Reink Media Group. He has closely tracked sports betting in the United States for the last two years, compiling hundreds of data points across dozens of sportsbooks. He has 5 years of online betting experience with hundreds of bets placed during that time.