DraftKings Sportsbook Review

DraftKings has quickly become a household name in the world of daily fantasy sports and sports betting. In just a few years, it has grown from a small startup to one of the most recognized online sportsbooks, offering options for all the major sports. In this review, we’ll share our firsthand experience, discuss the sportsbook bonuses, and see how DraftKings measures up against its competitors.

About DraftKings Sportsbook

With a huge selection of live betting options and unique bonuses, DraftKings Sportsbook is one of the greatest legal sports betting applications available. While they did receive some early attention for “extensive” lines, the fact is that all legal online sportsbooks will be somewhat more expensive than existing betting methods due to extra fees associated with regulated businesses.

The ease of use and familiarity of their interface are not up to snuff, but it’s clean and functional, and it’s instantly recognizable to both new and experienced sports bettors. They take all of the usual deposit options, such as credit card and PayPal, but they lack some of the more sophisticated ones. Overall, DraftKings has an excellent sports betting app, which is available for both iOS and Android (Google Play Store).

Established
2012
License
Several US states, pending in Canada
Languages
English
Payment Methods
Online banking, Visa, Mastercard, Discover, PayPal, Play+, Wire transfer
Owner
DraftKings Inc.
Payout Times
Within 5 business days
Customer Contact Options
Help Center, Live Chat, Email

DraftKings Sportsbook: What to Expect?

Customers of DraftKings sports betting will see a list of the most popular sports and leagues at the top of the homepage, which will be replaced by a drop-down menu after selecting one of the betting options from that list.

It has numerous sports, such as football, basketball, baseball, hockey, and soccer. It also features major golf and tennis events and tournaments.

You will then see an A-Z of sports, which includes:

  • Aussie Rules
  • Bandy
  • Basketball (NBA, NCAAB, Int.)
  • Boxing
  • Cricket
  • Curling
  • Cycling
  • Darts
  • eSports
  • Football (NFL, NCAAF, CFL, XFL)
  • Golf
  • Greyhounds
  • Handball
  • Hockey (NHL, Int)
  • Lacrosse
  • MMA & UFC
  • Motor Sports (NASCAR, F1)
  • Netball
  • Olympics
  • Rugby League
  • Rugby Union
  • Soccer (Multiple Int Leagues. Int Competition, World Cup)
  • Table Tennis
  • Tennis
  • Track & Field
  • Trotting
  • Snooker
  • Squash
  • Surfing
  • Winter Sports
  • Volleyball

Huge welcome bonus

Multiple payment methods

Licences in several US states

Plenty of betting markets

Easy to deal with interface

Maximum bet limits on promotions

Lower odds than market average

Some misleading bonus ads

DraftKings Sportsbook Welcome Bonus

The most recent welcome offer from DraftKings Sportsbook is a first deposit match of up to $1,000. Create a new account and make your first deposit of minimum $5. On some special occasions and for a limited time DraftKings Sportsbook might reward new players with a free bet to welcome them.

Then, DraftKings sportsbook will match 20% of the deposit bonus up to 1,000 Dollars. For every $25 bet placed on DraftKings, you’ll earn $1 in bonus funds, which will be added to your account once the 25-1 wagering requirement for bets with odds of -300 or higher has been completed. No dedicated DraftKings code is needed, but the wagering requirements need to be met 90 days from the date of the first deposit.

DraftsKings Sportsbook Promotions and Contests

Kicking things off, DraftKings is one of the most popular free-to-play contest sites on the internet. You can join in its “Sportsbook Daily Pools” contests every day to compete for money prizes. It also offers short-term sportsbook betting options, such as odds boost, risk-free bets, and parlay bonuses. There’s a $100 bonus for referring a friend, and in certain locations you may earn up to $100 in free casino money, as well as a deposit bonus for the daily fantasy sports game. On the other hand, DraftKings provides a good number of regular sport and event-specific new user offers. It was giving away $150 in free bets to new users who deposited only $5.

To access six free $25 bets, you could sign up for a DraftKings online betting account, deposit $5 and wager $1 on any NFL game or UFC bout. You had seven days to utilize the free bets, which required only a 1x online wagering. At other times, you may wager $1 on a heavy favorite with odds of 150/1 after creating an account. Another example was the opportunity to wager $1 qualifying bet on a 3-point field goal being made in an NBA game or a punch being thrown in a UFC match at odds 100/1 on your bet slip, which resulted in $100 in free bet credits.

Types of Bets at DraftKings Sportsbook

Once you’ve entered your betting markets selection, DraftKings Sportsbook provides all of the excitement you’d anticipate:

  • Spread betting
  • Moneyline
  • Total
  • Alternate lines
  • Futures bets

The betting lines are marked in bright green. Because the available action is neatly organized as tiles, placing your bet is as simple as tapping what you want. This is a wonderful approach to display available bets. Some other sites and online sportsbooks utilize a list-based or inflexible menu structure, and we believe DraftKings Sportsbook makes the greatest use of limited real estate as a mobile-first platform.

There’s a lot to tell, and they do it well, but we could use bigger fonts and buttons so users would know to scroll down to view additional choices. We don’t think the user interface of DraftKings is perfect, but it’s not bad. The biggest problem we have with it is that it tries to cram too much information on the screen at once. There’s no doubt about it: there’s a balance to be found, and all online sports betting applications will strive for in the early stages. We like DraftKings’ “confirm bet” feature.

After you’ve decided on your bet, a little box pops up with big touch targets for you to choose your wager amount and a large, friendly green button that reads “LET’S GET IT, HOLMES!” Actually, it reads “place bet” but we suppose that’s close enough. You may also create a parlay bet slip.

DraftKings Sportsbook Live Betting

We’ll combine prop bets and live betting into one section since they are the most important growth areas for mobile sports betting market. DraftKings is your typical prop shop right out of the box, but it will also provide bets on sports bettors daily fantasy totals on DraftKings.

That’s a really unique combination of Daily Fantasy Sports site and betting, which might entice a regular DFS player to switch over to a bookmaker and cash in potential bet wins. However, the live betting market is where it’s at for both DraftKings Sportsbook and the overall mobile sports betting sector. DraftKings takes to it like a duck to water.

We were given live betting alternatives for baseball to bet on things like run line, hits, totals, and more on an inning basis in our testing. According to DraftKings sports, it will accept bets on any data that is readily accessible, but some sports will have to catch up in this area. But things get interesting with DraftKings’ live bets ticket, which allows you to cancel bets before they’re over.

Cash out is the name given to this alternative. So, if you’re winning a wager and want to lock in a profit, you can do so, or you may cash out of a losing bet in order to recover at least part of your loss. This has a huge impact on how you gamble on sports, plain and simple. It allows sports bettors to hedge against themselves, protect downside risk, and even lock in profit. But be aware that there is no cash out option while using a free bet.

To clarify, there are times when the potential upside reward of betting is worth it. In fact, you must take risks in order to be successful at betting, therefore using the live ticket function will be critical.

DraftKings Sportsbook Customer Service

Customer support is a major weakness for DraftKings as an online sportsbook. It does not have a phone line, so you must complete a web form and wait for someone in the customer service department to respond to you. You can converse with a bot, but it can only search the site’s FAQ section and doesn’t give sophisticated answers.

The online gambling websites of rival online sports betting sides provide outstanding customer service, with live chat, phone, and email available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This is something that DraftKings as an online sportsbook is behind on.

Customer Support 

Responsible Gambling Problem and Player Safety

The bookmaker emphasizes a number of safe play features in its Draftkings sportsbook app. There are three of them.

  • Player Limits: your spending and deposits might be limited on a day, week, or month basis using this feature.
  • Self Exclusion: you may effectively ban yourself from using the app for a certain amount of time that you choose.
  • Cool Off: It allows you to prevent yourself from making or placing any bets for a given length of time, but you will still be able to use the Draftkings sportsbook app.

For everyone with a potential gambling problem, all three of these features are amazing and helpful. Industry leaders are well aware that self-policing to avoid illegal betting abuse is critical for legal sports betting to develop and flourish in the country. This is great stuff.

Under the supervision and regulation of several state authorities, DraftKings is a legal online gambling site and can only be used within these jurisdictions. For the greatest online security, the DraftKings website employs cutting-edge 256-bit encryption.

Draftkings Mobile App

The DraftKings mobile app is fantastic. It’s available on both Android and iOS devices, and users can obtain a link to download the mobile betting software from the DraftKings website. After installation, the sports betting software will provide you with all of the same sports and markets in a mobile-friendly format. You may make bets with just a few touches, and the menu at the bottom has quick links to various sections.

Of course, DraftKings employs geolocation technology as a mobile sportsbook with a sportsbook app in order to ensure that experienced sports bettor remains within his home state’s borders.

DraftKings Sportsbook Special Features

DraftKings offers a full online sportsbook where real money can be wagered on pre-match and live events. It is also adding new features that are popular on other betting sites.

Live Streaming

For many years, DraftKings has been developing a live streaming feature for its fantasy section. The bookmaker now offers live broadcasts for a number of sports across the world. However, the function is still in its early phases, and only a few locations have agreed to allow the operator to broadcast the events on the site.

Draftkings Casino

The DraftKings Casino features a wide variety of titles from major developers. It’s only available in locations where Internet casino gambling is legal, and it may be accessed from the same DraftKings account. Hundreds of popular slot machines, as well as live dealer alternatives are available in the casino lobby.

DraftKings Daily Fantasy

Daily Fantasy is only one of the many types of DFS contests offered by DraftKings, so it’s no surprise to see it highlighted front and center on their website. Users may participate in a variety of sports and esports competitions. The entry fee ranges from $1 to over $5,000, so there’s always a race for just about any interested bettor.

Parlays in the Same Game

On many sports, such as football and baseball, the online sportsbook offers popular same-game parlays. To wager, look for a game with a ‘+SGP’ symbol in its top left corner and enable ‘Same Game Parlay.’ Users can then create parlays and add them to their bet slips from there.

Payment Method
Minimum Deposit
Minimum Withdrawal
Online Banking
$5
$20
Visa
$5
$20
Mastercard
$5
$20
Discover
$5
$20
PayPal
$5
$20
Play+
$5
N/A
Wire transfer
$100
$20

DraftKings Sportsbook Review Conclusion

In our opinion, DraftKings has carved out a solid reputation among sports bettors, especially beginners and casual players. From our experience, the platform is intuitive, well-designed, and offers a broad range of betting options that cater to most users. Its strong foundation in daily fantasy sports has helped it seamlessly transition into legal sports betting, creating a significant following in the industry.

That said, there are some notable drawbacks. For experienced bettors, high-stakes players, or anyone who enjoys a lucky winning streak, DraftKings may feel limiting. Like many major sportsbooks in the U.S., DraftKings has been known to restrict accounts of players who win frequently or bet at higher limits. In our opinion, this practice detracts from the overall experience and leaves room for improvement. A sportsbook aiming to become the best in the industry should welcome all types of players, not penalize success.

DraftKings clearly has ambitions to dominate the online sports betting space, as shown by its 23% market share, trailing FanDuel’s 45% as of November 2021. With plans to expand into Canada, the company is positioning itself for further growth, which could bring even more opportunities for bettors.

Overall, our experience with DraftKings was largely positive, but it’s important to know what kind of player you are before diving in. If you’re new to sports betting or looking for a straightforward platform with a strong reputation, DraftKings is worth considering. For sharper or higher-stakes bettors, though, the limitations might make it less appealing in the long run. We’ll be watching closely to see how DraftKings evolves as it continues to expand into new markets.

FAQs

Here is a selection of the most common questions we get asked about DraftKings Sportsbook in Canada.

About the Author

Nate Bailey

Nate Bailey has worked in online gaming since 2017 starting off in a customer support role and working his way up to a VIP account manager at one of the biggest sports betting sites in Europe. He also spent two years at one of the leading casino affiliate sites as an Operational team leader where he managed a team of six people.

Nate focuses on the sports betting side of the company and ensures that we are up to date on all Canadian and American sports. Although, he does have a soft spot for Manchester United and other soccer (football) teams.