DraftKings will halt its NFL up 10, early win promotion after paying out a total of $75 million over the season's first two weeks, a source told Action Network on Tuesday.
The promotion will, however, continue as an up seven, early win feature for Thursday Night Football between the Steelers and Browns.
It's unclear if the change is permanent. There's still an outside chance the sportsbook will bring back the up 10, early win promo for Week 4.
Nor is it clear as of Tuesday whether an early win promotion for Thursday Night Football will continue week-to-week.
The promotions allowed bettors to cash in on their moneyline wagers if the team they bet on went up by seven or 10 points at any point in the game. The moneyline cashed normally, too, if the team you wagered on won but your team never went up seven or 10 points. Opt-in was required and the promo only applied to straight, moneyline bets.
The up seven point promo was only used for Thursday Night Football. Wagers on the Bills (-130) in Week 1 cashed early in the first quarter, while bets on the Rams (+110) lost altogether. Bets on both the Chargers (+160) and Chiefs (-190) would have won for Week 2.
And the up 10, early win promo was used exclusively for Sunday or Monday games. Week 2's Monday contests — Titans vs. Bills and Vikings vs. Eagles — were not eligible for the promotion.
The max wager had been as high as $500 for VIP accounts and those with Diamond status at the sportsbook. Most accounts saw a max bet per game of $50 or $100, but maximum wagers ranged everywhere in between, depending on how much you normally bet with the book.
Our beat writer following this promotion made picks for Weeks 1 and 2. Had you tailed all of his picks as a $500 max bettor, you'd be up $5,750 in net profit for two days of work.
A $100 bettor would be up a profit of $1,150 for $2,900 total risked. That's an ROI of 39%.
The general principle was to bet on underdogs. The worse a team was, the more positive expected value this promotion provided.
DraftKings had run a similar promotion for other events in the past, namely during the 2022 NBA Finals.
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 theory, the sportsbook is paying out extra for those that wouldn't have ordinarily bet on Arizona or Miami, but did so because of the promotion.
Bets on their opponents — the Ravens and Raiders — count for the aforementioned $75 million figure.
DraftKings declined to provide specific profit and loss figures, or data on how substantially handle increased year-over-year as a result of the promotions.
