Draftkings Sports Betting National Championship
Registration must be made via an existing DraftKings Sportsbook account. This Contest has an entry fee of $1500. Contestants register by joining the “DraftKings Pro Football Pick’em National Championship”, posted in DraftKings’ Pools Lobby. Contestants can make up to three (3) entries. Covers betting expert Patrick Everson sits down with DraftKings director of sportsbook operations Johnny Avello, to discuss the inaugural Sports Betting National Championship in New Jersey this. DraftKings’ Sports Betting National Championship Experience Difficulties. The Sports Betting National Championship by DraftKings was a much-anticipated event with the betting bonanza culminating on Sunday, January 13. However, a string of unprocessed bets made the top contenders miss out on $1-million cash prize and leave them with a bitter.
The DraftKings Sports Betting National Championship was supposed to be a celebration of the possibilities for the future of US sports betting.
Instead, it ended with controversy and some participants and observers crying foul.
Here’s a rundown of what went down, from what Legal Sports Report has been able to piece together:
DraftKings Sports Betting National Championship … before the problems
The first-ever DraftKings Sports Betting National Championship was going along just fine, for the first two days. Held in New Jersey and starting on Friday, the contest featured bettors vying for a piece of a $2.5 million prize pool.
Bettors had to be physically located in New Jersey to participate, as the contest took place entirely on DraftKings Sportsbook’s mobile app.
Handicappers started with a $5,000 bankroll to try to end the contest with the most money in their ending bankroll. Doing so would earn the winning bettor the top prize of $1 million.
You can see a blog of the action here.
On Friday night and Saturday, participants could bet on pretty much anything they wanted. On Sunday, they could only bet on the two NFL playoff games.
And that’s where the issues began.
The final day
On the final day, the New England Patriots were beating the Los Angeles Chargers badly and would go onto win handily.
But the game, which started at 1:05 p.m. Eastern time, took a long time to wrap up, so much so that it nearly overlapped with the game between the Philadelphia Eagles and New Orleans Saints, which was slated to start at 4:40 pm. Eastern. (The first game ended just a few minutes before the second.)
Impact on the sports betting contest
So what does all that have to do with the Sports Betting National Championship? Well, bettors could only place wagers involving the two NFL games. And no wagers could be placed after the start of the second game. Some players, including bettors at and near the top of the leaderboard, had their entire bankrolls in play on the Patriots game.
That meant the money was locked up, in some cases, after the start of the Eagles-Saints game. Bets on the Patriots were in some cases were quickly settled in the DraftKings’ system, but money was not credited to some players in time to wager on the late game.
One of those players was a pro bettor, Rufus Peabody — username “Opti5624” — who ended up finishing the contest in third place. He wagered his entire available bankroll on the Patriots to cover a 3.5-point spread, which they did. He was not credited with the winnings until later:
Balance $0.01. Game: started pic.twitter.com/0uPwb9Gcn3
— Rufus (@RufusPeabody) January 13, 2019
But some bettors did get paid
That, in and of itself, might not be an issue. After all, the rules of the contest clearly state that you could not place a wager after the start of the second game. That the early game would not finish before the start of the late game would have been a possibility no matter what was going on in the DraftKings’ event.
But it appears that some players were credited their winnings from the Patriots game and able to bet on the Saints game.
One example was easily identifiable from DraftKings’ own spreadsheet showing all the bets placed in the competition. The user “Moneylinemikey” bet his entire bankroll of $16,533 on a two-leg bet of the Patriots to cover the spread and over the total of 47.5 points. Both hit, netting him more than $57,000.
He then almost instantly turned around and placed two bets on the Eagles-Saints game, as shown by the spreadsheet.
The image in the second tweet below illustrates the issue:
Except he was able to cash in his LAC-NE bets *BEFORE* @RufusPeabody and put it all on those 2 bets which is oh so unfair!! 🧐@capjack2000pic.twitter.com/8fke8QGYcp
— Julien Skyfish (@TheFoodSnobFrog) January 13, 2019
DraftKings’ statement
DraftKings was clearly aware of the issue, as people on social media were loudly protesting the outcome.
Here’s a statement from a DraftKings’ spokesperson:
“The first ever Sports Betting National Championship was an incredibly thrilling event. We recognize that in the rules the scheduled end of betting coincided very closely to the finish of the of Patriots-Chargers game.
While we must follow our contest rules, we sincerely apologize for the experience several customers had where their bets were not graded in time to allow wagering on the Saints-Eagles game. We will learn from this experience and improve upon the rules and experience for future events.”
Next steps after the end of the DraftKings’ contest
So where do we go from here? It’s hard to see a great solution.
DraftKings could certainly give Peabody a million. But that might open them up to other potential issues with bettors who experienced the same payment problem.
Peabody said he would have gone on to wager on the Saints — a heavy favorite before winning 20-14 — to win the game. And that would have given him a million dollars.
I’m almost hoping eagles win right now, that way I know I didn’t get screwed out of a million bucks.
— Rufus (@RufusPeabody) January 13, 2019
Of course, the contest can’t be settled on “would haves;” but Peabody also never had a chance even to bet.
The issue likely falls to regulators, namely the NJ Department of Gaming Enforcement. The fact that bettors did not have an equal opportunity to bet in the contest on the final game will likely not sit well with them. Fines or enforcement action by the NJDGE could certainly be in play, pending the outcome of a potential investigation.
DraftKings was trying to do something different and novel with its sports betting championship. But the endgame of the contest and the logistics of running it obviously created a situation that it had not considered. Different rules might have saved it from controversy.
But those are simply excuses. DraftKings is running sports betting in a regulated market. And the way it ran the contest created an unfair advantage and disadvantage for some bettors. There probably need to be, and will be consequences.
Early last Sunday evening, when the Eagles’ potential game-winning fourth quarter drive was halted after the ball slipped through the hands of Alshon Jeffery into the waiting arms of the Saints’ Marcus Lattimore, all hopes of an Eagles Super Bowl repeat ended.
As the curtain came down on what was likely the end of folk-hero Nick Foles’ Eagles career, 1,300 miles away in a cavernous warehouse in Jersey City, the end of the Saints-Eagles game also marked the completion of the first DraftKingsSports Betting National Championship (SBNC).
Much has been written this week about how the last few hours of the DraftKings Sportsbook tourney played out, with a narrow window between the end of the Patriots-Chargers game and the start of the Saints-Eagles game.
This prevented some contestants from receiving their graded winning payouts in time to place their next bets, which was the final game on the SBNC contest slate.
More will be discussed and debated about the wild ending of this inaugural DraftKings (DK) NJ sports betting contest until their next tournament is held.
As I was able to attend as a guest of one of the participants (thanks DZ), I wanted to take a look at how DraftKings delivered on the functional “qualitative” aspects of the tourney experience, including accommodations, tourney venue, contest format, and DK help/support.
From what I observed and from some of the participants with whom I spoke, DraftKings gets a positive thumbs up for their overall performance in staging the first sports betting tournament.
Accommodations and venue at DraftKings SBNC
The locations of the W in Hoboken as hotel HQ and tourney venue site in Jersey City placed the participants in close proximity to travel into New York City or, at least, admire the NYC skyline.
If they wanted to keep it local and check out “Cake Boss” Buddy Valastro’sCarlo’s Bakery in Hoboken or visit the Statue of Liberty from the Jersey side, all options were there (provided they wanted to pause their handicapping for an hour or two).
The tourney venue itself was located on the eighth floor of a Jersey City warehouse. No need to “check-in” there on your favorite social media account as DK went out of its way to ensure that the location was kept under wraps.
The location had that “after hours” club feel with no external directional signs. And it wasn’t until I saw the DraftKings logo swatch on a door that I knew I was at the right spot. Attendance was limited to the contest players and their guests. If you were neither, the price of admission was $100.
There was unlimited food and an open bar at the contest HQ for the entire weekend. Since the actual number of participants was about half of the 500 projected entries, there were plenty of seats/sofas/tables to set up your place.
One player described the venue as the ‘World’s Largest Man Cave.”
Like any proper “man cave,” the space had a myriad of TV screens showing games with others updating the current leaderboard. At times, the coordination of which screens were showing what games could have been better. As the Chiefs vs. Colts game was underway on Saturday, there were still a number of screens devoted to a Big Ten Women’s basketball game.
No offense to the Lady Terps, there’s no legal betting (yet) on women’s college hoops.
Depositing and betting on DraftKings Sportsbook app
While not a representative sample for the entire contest, you seemingly were less likely to have any depositing/betting issues if you were already an established NJ-based DraftKings Sportsbook account holder.
Some players in from outside New Jersey had some challenges in establishing their account, but most were fine. Since $2.5 million in total prize money was there for the taking with less than half of the slots filled, some journeyed to Hoboken looking to purchase a last-minute entry on the eve of the tournament.
There were some issues around PayPal regulations and wiring of funds. Also, there was a DraftKings stipulation that any cash buy-in had to be made on site at their Resorts brick-and-mortar sportsbook in Atlantic City.
As AC is a five-hour roundtrip drive from Jersey City, it’s unreasonable to ask for an out-of-town player to have to make that trek in order to establish a bankroll.
I also noted some challenges related to placing a bet at the venue. Perhaps a combination of issues related to location verification or the number of devices connected to Wi-Fi, but I watched as one player had to load/reload his 10-team parlay several times, having to scramble to re-enter it again and try to submit before the first game started.
DraftKings championship format and timing
Since it was the first of its kind, the DraftKings Sports Betting National Championship did its best to set up the parameters and rules/regulations around the start/finish of the tournament. Some felt that a 12 noon Friday was too early of a start.
If you were NJ-based, you were ready to fire at 12:01 p.m. But for some traveling in from out of town, allowing time to get an entry established, their DraftKings sportsbook app set up, and cash deposited, 12 noon is too early.
As a reminder, all bets could only be placed while physically located in New Jersey.
Another player could be building his bankroll by cashing in on Friday afternoon golf or tennis bets, while an out-of-towner is dealing with DraftKings help desk or on the phone with PayPal, which is less than ideal.
DK did receive compliments for installing the Saints vs. Eagles as the final betting event of the contest.
Once the game started, there were no further in-play bets permitted. This eliminated the potential “stabbing” scenario in which smaller bankroll players throw money at long-shot bets with the hope of a long-shot score to get them into contention.
DraftKings help and support
The NJ sportsbook app had an office/help deskon-site at the Jersey City venue to answer any questions and provide needed tech support.
DraftKings management, including new Operations Lead Johnny Avello, were accessible and available, making continual rounds to check-in and interact with the tourney contestants.
What should be changed for future DraftKings contests?
Of course, timely, consistent grading of bets for all players will be at the top of the list for DraftKings to sort out before the next tournament.
Since it’s DraftKings’ first foray, there is always room to improve. And I wanted to make some suggestions on ways to enhance/improve the overall tourney experience from qualifiers through to the final day.
Qualifying related to sports betting not DFS
DraftKings utilized their daily fantasy sports platform as the primary means of qualifying for the SBNC.
While it’s always debatable, the DFS player and the sports bettor have different approaches and skill sets. Why not take a page from horse racing feeder contests that utilize a pre-set menu of races over a specific time period with a mythical bankroll to qualify entrants into their biggest tournament events.
Start time of championship
The Friday start as part of a weekend is good, but I suggest a later start to coincide with the start of the NBA, NHL or college basketball games that evening.
Draftkings Betting Site
As mentioned earlier, this also gives out-of-town participants more time to get their feet on the ground and resolve any logistical issues during the day.
Communication during the Live Event
Draftkings Sports Betting National Championship Results
The Saturday/Sunday tournament was mostly absent any “voice” as a host/moderator.
I am not suggesting a person tries to hijack the event like a bad wedding DJ. But maybe use someone that could consistently flag timely reminders (i.e. “the 2 p.m. college basketball games go live in 15 minutes”) and provide leaderboard scoring updates (“Player X has just cashed a five-team parlay for $30,000 to vault them into the top five”).
This voice would have been helpful for updates and announcements as the tournament wound down on Sunday afternoon/evening.
As 2018 was a year of many firsts in NJ sports betting, the DraftKings Sports Betting National Championship helped get 2019 off to a quick start for innovations within the industry.
Draftkings Sportsbook
Tournaments/contests will no doubt become part of the landscape as sports betting is legalized in more states and overall handle in New Jersey grows. Despite some of the first event bumps and bruises, kudos to DraftKings for making the first bet in this space.