DraftKings Sports Betting Review 2023
DraftKings Sportsbook is one of the top legal online sportsbooks for American bettors. Along with their longtime rival FanDuel Sportsbook, DraftKings was one of the pioneers to provide legal online sports betting in the U.S. Initially, DraftKings mostly concentrated on daily fantasy sports. However, it jumped into the world of online sports immediately after the Supreme Court overturned PASPA, a federal sports betting ban, in 2018.
Review results DraftKings
Quick Facts
- Main
- Sports betting
- Payment methods
Today, DraftKings operates in a dozen states across the U.S. with the number expected to rise, since plenty of other states are beginning to legalize sports betting. Initially launched in New Jersey, this bookmaker has swiftly expanded to more than 10 other states where it’s battling for market supremacy with its rivals. Among other things, DraftKings seems to be an attraction to many due to the following:
- Attractive rewards and bonuses
- Strong user experience
- Fast and highly reliable payouts
DraftKings offers an incredibly approachable online sports betting experience to its customers. Navigating the site is easy, and the sportsbook caters for new bettors by walking them through the basics. Seasoned bettors have plenty of reasons to be happy as well, with several boosted odds that the sportsbook offers on a massive selection of different sports and betting markets.
So, does DraftKings Sportsbook live up to the hype? Our DraftKings review covers everything that you need to know about this bookmaker so that you make an informed decision as to whether this bookmaker is worth your investment or not.
Ratings:
Overall Rating | 4.5 Stars |
Betting Markets | 4.5 Stars |
In-play Betting | 4.5 Stars |
Payment methods | 4.5 Stars |
Odds Level | 4.5 Stars |
Bonuses/Promotions | 4.5 Stars |
Customer Support | 4.0 Stars |
Mobile Experience | 4.5 Stars |
Safety | 4.5 Stars |
Main Bonus for New Players:
Type | Deposit Bonus |
Offer | Deposit Bonus up to $1,000 |
T&Cs | 21+, must be physically in AZ/NJ/CO/IN/WV/PA/IL/IA/TN/MI/VA/WY |
DraftKings Bonuses & Promotions
Both new and existing customers at DraftKings sports betting site have a range of bonuses and a welcome offer that they can take advantage of when betting. New players that get to sign up at DraftKings get up to $1,000 in a bet match bonus on their first deposit into the sportsbook. Users will also receive a 20% match on their initial deposit up to $1,000 of bonus deposit funds on DFS. Of importance to note is that the winnings from these contests can only be cashed out for real money after meeting the play-through requirements. For instance, for every $25 played, $1 in bonus funds are released. While wagering on odds of -300 is no longer a necessity, a player needs to meet the play-through requirement within 90 days.
DraftKings bonus offer don’t stop there. DraftKings also offers a referral bonus that gives players some bonus credits for going ahead and referring other players to the sportsbook. DraftKings sportsbook offers up to $100 maximum for each friend referred. Basically, you can go ahead and send your friend(s) a unique referral link from your own account. Should one of them proceed and deposit $100 into their account, you automatically receive $100 as a free bet. unfortunately, there’s no risk-free bet here.
Beside bonus offers, DraftKings also has several promotions, but they are mostly on offer depending on the season of a particular sport they cover. Their promotions can cover different leagues and sports, including NASCAR Cup Series and the NFL. You have to opt in from the promotions page and go ahead to place featured bets to qualify.
Some of the ongoing sports betting promotions that you can find at DraftKings include pools, profit boosts, free contests, and odds boosts, among others.
How to Start Betting at DraftKings
Betting with DraftKings is quite easy. However, before you place your first bet here, there are a few important things you need to know, and a few steps to follow too. That way, you’ll be able to place your bets here without any difficulties at all. So, how to go about placing your bets here? Here’s how:
Be physically present in a state where DraftKings Sportsbook is Legal
To be able to place your bet(s) at DraftKings, you must be physically present the states where this bookmakers is licensed to operate. If not in the state, at least, you have to be somewhere along its borderlines to be able to place your bets. Bets places from outside the states where BetRivers doesn’t have a gambling license will face automatic rejection.
It gets even worse with an app. DraftKings app has a geolocation feature that prevents bettors outside those states where DraftKings does operate from accessing the sportsbook. Therefore, before going about to place your first bet at DraftKings, make sure that you are about to do so from a jurisdiction where the sportsbook has a license.
Sign-Up and Registration
Now that you are in a state where DraftKings is legal to conduct business, the next step is sign-up and registration. Thankfully, DraftKings has made their sign-up process incredibly easy, something that allows you to join any of its thousands of daily real money contests and other promos in a matter of minutes.
To get started, click on DraftKings sign-up link that will redirect you to the landing page of the sportsbook. Once you are here, click on the “Draft Your Team” button to get started. You need to note that you won’t draft your team yet, but you’ll have to register first. At this point, you’ll have choose your username, email and password. It’s as simple as that.
Bonus Activation
As mentioned earlier, new customers that get to sign up with DraftKings sportsbook automatically qualify for aDraftKings sportsbook bonus of up to $1,000 on deposit. Now that you have your account up and running plus your bonus funds, you need to activate the bonus to be able to use it. DraftKings will issue you with a promo code that you’ll use to activate the bonus. On the main DraftKing’s page is a box in the middle of the page marked ‘Enter Promo Code.’ The moment you click on ‘Enter DraftKings’ Coupon Code, a new window pops up where you can enter the promo code.
Fund your Account
You are almost close to placing your first bet at DraftKings sportsbook. Now, you need to fund your account. Before placing real money bets, you need to have funds in your account. DraftKings supports several deposit and withdrawal methods that you can choose. The entire banking methods that you find at DraftKings are safe and secure.
Deposit options
- Visa
- Mastercard
- Maestro
- Skrill
- PayPal
- Play+
- Check
- Cash
Withdrawal options
- PayPal
- eCheck
- Check
- Cash
Banking Methods Comparison
The following table helps to further explain the available banking options much better. You can choose the one that you find ideal based on several factors such as transaction fees, processing time, minimum and maximum deposit to mention but a few.
Deposit Method | Fee | Process Time | Min Deposit ($) |
Visa | Free | Instant | $5 |
Mastercard | Free | Instant | $5 |
Maestro | Free | Instant | $5 |
Skrill | Free | Instant | $5 |
PayPal | Free | Instant | $5 |
Play+ | Free | Instant | $5 |
Check | Free | Instant | $20 |
Cash | Free | Instant | $20 |
Withdrawal method | Fee | Processing Time | Fee |
PayPal | Free | 1-3 banking days | $20 |
eCheck | Free | 1-3 banking days | $20 |
Cash | Free | 1-3 banking day | $20 |
Check | Free | 3-7 baking days | $20 |
Start Betting!
You are finally done! Now that you are in a state where DraftKings is legal to operate, you’ve successfully registered for your betting account, activated the bonus, and transferred funds to your account, now it’s time to place your bets. Choose the teams or players that you’d like to wager on –locally or internationally- and place your bets on them. You’ve just placed your first bet at DraftKings. Simple as that!
DraftKings Sports Coverage
DraftKings sports coverage is of exceptional depth. Players can find a wealth of sports to wager on at this bookmaker. Unlike other bookmakers that give plenty of coverage to local sports, such isn’t the case at DraftKings sportsbook. The extent of their sports coverage include:
U.S. Major Pro Sports
The United States is among the biggest sporting nations in the globe. Some of the most popular, most-watched, most-played, and most-wagered sporting events are in America. Sport betting in particular seems to be picking rapid pace in America with hundreds of thousands of sports bets placed on a daily basis. U.S. major pro sports is one of those events that appeal to many bettors based on the odds that they have.
DraftKings accords decent coverage to U.S. major sports and accept thousands of bets on such events on a daily basis. Some of the major U.S. sports that are well covered by DraftKings Sports book include Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA), the National Football League (NFL), Major League Soccer (MLS),the National Hockey League (NHL), and the Professional Golf Association (PGA).
International/Niche Sports
Even though DraftKings is a U.S – based bookie, you’d think that most of their focus is on U.S. major pro sports only. However, that’s not the case here. While they cater for local sports and accord it the best coverage, they also cater for needs of players who would want to wager on international and niche sports.
Besides U.S. major sports, bettors with accounts at DraftKings can also go ahead and place bets on the following international and niche sports:
- Rugby
- Soccer
- Cricket
- Kabaddi
- Tennis
- Boxing
- Swimming
- Handball
- Netball
- Volleyball
- Motorsports
- Hockey
- Table tennis
- Triathlon
- Aussie Rules
- Darts
- Snooker
- Water Polo
- Bandy
- Chess
Daily Fantasy Sports
Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) is what made DraftKings to be the company it is today. Customers who fancy DFS can go ahead and take contests at DraftKings across a variety of esports and standard sports. The number of entries and the amount of each contest varies, meaning that there’s something for every player.
DraftKings Betting Types
You will find plenty of betting options at your disposal the moment you choose to wager with DraftKings. Unlike other bookmakers that may limit their bet types, especially on major sports, such isn’t the case at DraftKings. For instance, in an NBA game, you are most likely to find several bet types such as total points, point spread, alternate totals, moneyline, alternate lines, game props, and player props. These ones include assists and rebounds, player points, top points scorer of the game, the player to score the first field goal, and so on.
You will also benefit from a similar breadth of massive betting options when wagering on other sports such as football, tennis, rugby, cricket, hockey and so on. Golf and tennis fans should be impressed by DraftKings large range of different bet types that are on offer here too. This bookmaker also has plenty of futures betting too. The only thing that’s missing here is a same game parlay tool. But overall, their bet types are quite good.
In-play Betting
One of the most popular features available at plenty of online sports betting sites today is live or in-play betting and DraftKings does exceptionally when it comes to in-game betting. DraftKings live betting section is great. Bettors can check out for matches that are currently in progress with the odds getting immediate updates based on what’s happening in the game. What makes DraftKings live betting section even better is that the sportsbook offers an entire range of prop bets, especially for major live games. Overall, DraftKings does an amazing job with its live betting section where you can find a live match tracker, and live scores.
Other DraftKings Gambling Types
Lately, several bookmakers seem to be branching out of the norm and accepting other types of bets that a normal bettor might consider somewhat bizarre. Now, several bookmakers are taking political bets, DraftKings being an apt example of such a sportsbook. During last year’s U.S. presidential debate between former U.S. President Donald Trump and the then democratic nominee Joe Biden (current U.S. president), individuals were literally placing bets on what the two candidates would do on stage. Even though the debates don’t really have a scoreboard, such didn’t stop DraftKings from taking in bets regarding what will happen on stage.
Besides taking in political bets, DraftKings also has its own casino site. The DraftKings Casino is ideal for those who’d like to try out different casino games such as slots and table games. The casino comes with an impressive range of games from some of the most renowned game developers. You need to note that the casino is only available to players in the states with legalized online casino. It gets even better since gambling on the casino can be accessed from the same sportsbook account without the need of opening a new casino account.
Inside DraftKings Casino, you can find plenty of slot games, in addition to live dealer options, along with a few DraftKings exclusives.
DraftKings Site Experience
We established the user experience on offer at DraftKings sportsbook to be fantastic. Even though it’s slightly similar to their competitor sites that also employ the Kambi platform, DraftKings has gone a step further and added and aesthetically attractive gray, black and some green color scheme. Matters to do with navigation are very simple and highly effective. The menus are designed in an intuitive manner and the pages load quite fast. Still, there are several helpful shortcuts here.
DraftKings pages look orderly and clean, something that helps players to find wagers fast. The bet slip is properly divided into parlays, singles and round robins, and populate quite well. Unfortunately, DraftKings doesn’t utilize a ‘search’ function. It would also be great to see this bookmaker offering more statistical information and data on games and other sporting events. However, overall, DraftKings site experience is impressive.
DraftKings Mobile App Experience
Since the launch of DraftKings mobile sports betting app in 2018, the app has proved to be extremely popular among online sports betting fans. DraftKings team already had plenty of industry-experience in running and administering their daily fantasy sports app, and the bookie was in an advantaged position to pivot towards online sports betting. Their betting appfollows almost the same design to their desktop site, and this consistency makes everything easy.
Beside the apps smooth navigation, a primary selling point of DraftKings app is that it doesn’t have issues with geolocators. If there’s an instance of poor compatibility with geolocation software, then it may result in all sorts of glitches. Thankfully, that’s not the case with DraftKings. The sportsbooks geolocators are accurate, making the app to run smoothly.
Upon submitting the app on a range of tests on iOS and Android devices, we were highly impressed not only with the functionality but also with the sharpness of the graphics, even on old devices. Bettors can download the app from the bookmaker’s mobile site or head to Google Play or the App Store. With more than 215,000 reviews, most of which are positive, it means that DraftKings app is up there with some of the best apps in the market. Using the app is easy, with the buttons being sharp to the touch. With the app, you can place bets faster and effectively.
About DraftKings
We have more to tell you about DraftKings apart from what we’ve already touched on. Our aim is to ensure that you make an informed decision before signing up with them. But so far, everything appears right at DraftKings sportsbook. So, what’s more about them? Read on below.
Security and Gaming License
DraftKings boasts of a very strong and desirable security record. Three years ago in 2018, they were a target of cyber criminals, but they successfully thwarted this attack without witnessing any sort of disruption. Since then, DraftKings has never reported any other cases of security breaches, meaning that you should feel safe when placing bets at the site. DraftKings uses latest SSL encryption technology to keep customer details all the time. They also have a team of dedicated security teams that work hard behind the scenes to keep customer details safe. Besides, DraftKings is a licensed bookie with gaming licenses in the states that they operate. It means that they are safe and trustworthy.
Loyalty Program
DraftKings sportsbook rewards its loyal customers. If you stick with the sportsbook for long as you place bets with them, you will be rewarded. DraftKings enrolls their customers automatically in its rewards program the moment they register for an account. Players then earn loyal points every time they get to place bets in the sportsbook. Players can then go ahead and exchange these points for rewards and other benefits such as free bets the moment they accumulate up to a certain amount. Players climb up the levels or tiers, earning amazing rewards and some redemption rates as they progress. Players can convert their DraftKings Dollars –free bet credits – or gain entry to contests.
Customer Support
If you can remember from our earlier Star ratings, we gave DraftKings sportsbook a disappointing 4.0 stars out of the possible 5 stars on their customer support. We are honest in this review and you’ll understand why their customer service score low points. First, DraftKings offers customer support from 6 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. ET on a daily basis. It would be good if they offered such services 24/7 as some of their rivals do. While there’s the Live Chat function available here too, unfortunately, it’s only active during business hours. At times, the customer service process tends to be inconsistent, as response times are slow with knowledge levels varying among the agents. There’s some room for improvement here, though.
Responsible Gambling
DraftKings sportsbook is highly committed to responsible gambling and want to ensure that their customers bet sensibly and responsibly. The sportsbook actively monitors situations in which their customers’ behavior may have indications of problem gambling. This sportsbook has a section on their site dedicated to responsible gambling. This section provides advice on how to spot cases of problem gambling and how to go about wagering within your means. There are also links to helpful charities and measures that bettors can impose upon themselves, such as timeouts, time limits, or even self-exclusion.
DraftKings Sportsbook FAQs
Payouts are executed in the same manner of deposits. Most of them are instant.
Yes, provided you are using the app in a state where DraftKings has a license to operate.
Their odds are mostly on the same level to that of their rivals. They are quite good, though.
DraftKings is legal in AZ/NJ/CO/IN/WV/PA/IL/IA/TN/MI/VA/WY.
Yes, there a DraftKings Casino for lovers of casino games.
Log in to your account and click on the cash out option. Enter the amount you wish to cash out and confirm.
Yes, PayPal is among the accepted payment method at DraftKings.
Our verdict
DraftKings sportsbook fully deserves its status and position as one of the best online sports betting sites in the U.S. The user experience is amazing via desktop and the mobile site. DraftKings offersstrong pre-game and in-play betting options on thousands of sporting events every week. There’s also a range of compelling bonuses, several attractive promotions, and an excellent rewards program aimed at providing some benefit. A couple of minor shortcomings here include the lack of 24/7 customer service, especially via live chat. But overall, they are safe, reliable, secure, and a trustworthy sports betting site, and has a good chance of becoming No. 1 online bookmaker in the U.S.