It appears DraftKings will re-launch its early win promotion for the NBA this upcoming season.
The promo allows users to get their moneyline wagers paid out automatically if the team you bet on goes up by a certain amount of points — usually 10 — at any time during the game.
The sportsbook ran the promotion for the first two weeks of the NFL season and paid out a total of $75 million. But betting handle increased substantially, and that $75 million metric does not account for how much users subsequently lost with their promotional winnings, nor does it factor in any potential increase in app engagement or retention.
The Action Network caught wind of the promotion's potential return through the Apple App Store. In its most recent update, DraftKings lists a number of new features set up for the NBA season, including "Quick Parlay" and "Flash Bet Bonus" items.
One of those listed? Early Win for NBA.
The promo isn't immediately available, and it's unclear when the official re-launch may be, but The Action Network has reason to believe the app store listing isn't inaccurate, at the very least.
Sources within the company would not confirm the rationale as to why the promotion might be returning.
The sportsbook has run this promotion for the NBA once before. DraftKings had an Early Win, Up 10 promo available for Game 1 of the 2022 NBA Finals, when ML wagers on either the Warriors (-165) or Celtics (+145) were eligible.
Had you bet the Celtics, for instance, a $100 bet would have netted $145 if Boston went up by 10 points or more at any point. Same goes for the Warriors -165, but with a $60.60 profit.
Both sides eventually won, with both teams taking double-digit leads — everyone that engaged with the promo came out with profit, even though the Warriors were the only victors on the box score.
The sportsbook ran the same promotion for Game 5, but only the Warriors at a -165 clip pulled out the victory. The Celtics never went up 10 points; Golden State did early in the first quarter en route to a 107-97 win.
Generally, the principle is to bet underdogs. The worse a team is, the more positive expected value this promotion provides.
The max wager can be as high as $500 per game for VIP accounts and those with Diamond status at the sportsbook. Most accounts see a max bet per game of $50 or $100, but others have $10 or $250. It depends on how much you normally bet with DraftKings.
The Early Win, Up 10 promotion ran during the first two Sundays of the 2022 NFL season. An Early Win, Up 7 promotion was live for the first four Thursday Night Footballs.
The Action Network had a beat writer assigned to the NFL version of the promotion. Had you tailed every one of his picks, a $100 per game bettor would be up a profit of $1,050 for $3,000 total risked. That's an ROI of 35%.
