DraftKings has experienced significantly higher uptime compared to its competitors across the second half of the NFL season according to research carried out by Bettormetrics, an innovative AI data company providing competitive trading intelligence and insight to the sports betting industry, with support from its data partners, OpticOdds.
In total, customers of the sportsbook can place bets for more than 89% of the game, over 5% higher than its next closest competitor. The impressive figure has only been enhanced since the Playoffs started, with the Massachusetts-based operator offering markets for 94.2% of the Postseason – 15% higher than challenger brands ESPN Bet and Hard Rock.
The average uptime across the nine leading brands in the US regulated market was just above 81%, highlighting the strength of DraftKings’ dynamic offering and pricing approaches. At the other end of the scale, Penn Entertainment’s ESPN Bet brand averages just over 75% uptime, resulting in a significant portion of fixtures where users are unable to place a wager.
The operator was also home to the gameweek with the lowest uptime, with the week 10 slate seeing ESPN Bet’s markets up for only two-thirds of the weekend – more than 20% lower than DraftKings. However, it has shown steady improvement over the latter half of the season, averaging close to 80% uptime in recent weeks.
As the Postseason kicked off, all operators improved their uptime, with the average across the board being 85%. Both Caesars and DraftKings exceeded 90% uptime across the first two weeks of the culmination of the season, which saw a number of thrilling ties and notable upsets.
When it came to the Super Bowl, which saw the Philadelphia Eagles run riot over the reigning champion Kansas City Chiefs, DraftKings once again was the standard bearer, offering markets for nearly the entire game with an uptime of a staggering 97.6%. At the other end of the scale, ESPN Bet moved off the bottom as Fanatics lagged behind at 82.7%, lower than its previous playoff offering.
Improvements for uptime were seen almost across the board however, with every operator except Fanatics offering markets for longer as the season came to its explosive climax.
Sabin Brooks, Chief Revenue Officer at Bettormetrics, commented:
The NFL season is the crown jewel in US Sports, and the highly competitive offerings across the board include player props, micro bets, and large scale volumes across handicap markets. With plenty of investment in its pricing capabilities, it perhaps isn’t a surprise to see DraftKings as the clear leader in maximizing its potential by having the least market suspensions. At the other end of the spectrum, ESPN Bet is still trying to find its feet in the market, and having an uptime of less than 80% stands out in a sport where every down can make a difference. Of course, there are other mechanics, such as bet acceptance time, which constitute each operators’ overall trading strategy. Nonetheless, our research has shown uptime remains one of the largest points of difference between the US’ major betting platforms.
Robert Urwin, CEO and co-founder of Bettormetrics, added:
Over the last three months of the NFL season, we’ve seen some notable market leaders and trends emerge. Although ESPN Bet is still the tied lowest in terms of uptime, it has also steadily increased this over the period by more than 10%, showing that its offering is getting up to speed. Somewhat surprisingly, FanDuel, part of the duopoly with DraftKings, lags behind its rival in uptime by an average of more than 6%, potentially leaving a decent chunk of revenue on the table due to prolonged suspensions and slow-to-reopen markets. As we can see from the data, it is much closer to the chasing pack of BetMGM, bet365 and Fanatics than its direct competitor, so we may see uptime become an area to improve come next season.
Bettormetrics monitors and analyses thousands of live in-play sports betting events traded every single week. Observed performance and competitive analysis by Bettormetrics has already helped traders and analysts discover and identify deficiencies that directly impact sportsbook revenues and profitability.
Yana Mardiyan
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