Updated: September 21, 2022 7:40 pm ET
The start of football season is generally one of the biggest months of the year for sportsbooks—particularly when it comes to marketing those books.
From deposit matches to boosted odds and risk-free bets, all sorts of free money is set aside for potential gamblers so long as they continue logging into apps.
To begin the NFL year, the DraftKings launched an “Early Win Up 10” promotion on select games. The concept was simple: if the team you bet on goes up by 10 points at any moment during the game, your bet automatically cashes.
According to Action Network’s Avery Yang, that led to the company paying out $75 million bets on early wins over the first two weeks of the season. And that may be it for the promo for awhile.
A company spokesman told BetFTW via email after this report was published no decision has been made moving forward either way. DraftKings runs a similar “Up 7 Early Win” promotion for Thursday Night Football that will continue for Week 3 between the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers.
Per Yang, a $100 bettor using the promo would be up a profit of as much as $1,150 for $2,900 total risked. That’s an ROI of 39 percent based on the first two weeks of the promotion:
The $75 million figure for how much the sportsbook paid out as a result of the promotions only factors in teams that went up seven or 10 points.
It does not count, for instance, bets on the Dolphins or Cardinals, who overcame 21- and 16-point fourth quarter deficits to win on Sunday.
While neither team led by 10 — meaning the promotion didn’t apply — more bettors put wagers on the two teams because of the early win assurance.
In other words, the true value of the amount paid out by DraftKings on those games may be significantly higher since both sides were declared winners at various points due to the promotion. Similarly, without knowing the full handle, it’s unclear if DraftKings profited overall from the amount wagered on those games.
DraftKings shares fell as low as 3.7% in the first 2 hours of trading this morning, after @avery_yang reported it paid out $75 million in early win promotions in the first 2 weeks of NFL. $DKNG is halting the promo. https://t.co/V43zvq0fC6
— Sam McQuillan (@sam_mcquill) September 21, 2022
Considering DraftKings is one of the major sportsbooks in the United States, it remains to be seen what impact this will have on promotions offered by competitors. PointsBet, for example, has made discretionary decisions to already grade some season-long NFL futures.
In any case, this is just another reminder to shop around for promotions before you place a bet.
