Betting blitz: how operators fared with this year's virtual NFL Draft

For anyone who has spent time in the US it quickly becomes apparent how deeply embedded the NFL is into American culture. When the entire slate of professional sports was canceled or postponed (bar the UFC) in March due to coronavirus, the only respite for a nation of tens of millions of sports fans was the promise of an upcoming NFL season and an aspirational, if not slightly bizarre, virtual NFL Draft weekend.

In 2019, the event generated little interest from the betting community, and from an operator perspective it is generally a “tough proposition for the house”, DraftKings sportsbook director Johnny Avello says.

“The players are really good at sizing up the draft,” Avello continues. “[The draft] wasn’t a big money maker; it was probably break-even or around that area, but it was an event that we had a lot of action on with the different markets that we offered. We did more markets than we’ve ever done before – three times as many.”

But what it did offer bettors and sportsbook traders was a return to some sense of normality. “Being the first event in quite some time that the players were accustomed to, our handle went through the roof, and we actually handled 13 to 14 times more money than on the last draft, so a significant increase for sure,” says Avello.

“The draft is very fluid. It’s just constantly changing because of the models and the teams’ so-called positions on what they want to pick and what they actually need. It’s a work in progress,” he adds.

Meanwhile at PointsBet, the three-day draft led to a 10-fold increase in turnover on the previous year. “We’re quite happy with the overall interest across our deep slate of offering and the team’s ability to take advantage of arguably the biggest opportunity so far in the Covid-19 sports era,” says PointsBet communications director Patrick Eichner.

Getting creative

With a lack of home sports to focus on, the opportunity for novel draft markets was huge, but operators had to get creative. PointsBet’s Eichner says its bettors took to a promotion similar to its UFC 246 McGregor Madness offer that saw the odds move in the bettors’ favor as more wagers were placed. In Indiana and New Jersey, the Australia-founded operator presented customers with up to 250 markets, like its Super Bowl approach back in February.

Rush Street Interactive’s BetRivers adapted its “trifecta bet” horseracing betting feature to apply to NFL Draft props, enabling bettors in Indiana to select the top-three players drafted in exact order. “The trifecta wager adds tremendous excitement and interest for players,” RSI’s COO, Mattias Stetz, comments. “[The promotion] creates some tough decisions for the bettors.” BetRivers recorded the third-largest overall handle in Indiana in April, behind DraftKings and FanDuel.

Immediately following the draft, PointsBet’s Eichner says the firm saw interesting movement on futures odds for the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers, with most questioning the decisions of the Packers’ front office. Undoubtedly, the draft has built a significant hype around the upcoming football season, which, according to the NFL, will go ahead as normal in September. “It was nice to get back to something that all the players can relate to,” Avello comments.

Prior to the event, Fox Bet traders estimated that industry turnover on this year’s draft would exceed $2m, or “up four or five times year-over-year”. Indiana generated $1.3m in football-related wagers in April, with the vast majority relating to the draft. Overall, the state recorded $1.6m in GGR on $26.3m in handle. Although 80% of the state’s handle accounted for other sports outside of football, basketball and baseball.

At the time of writing, no other state had released its betting revenue data for April, making it difficult to determine the wider interest driven by the NFL Draft, and how it compared to the novel and foreign sporting events that have attracted the betting masses throughout April and May, including table tennis, darts and Belarusian soccer.

On the uptick in new sports, DraftKings’ Avello says: “Certainly, table tennis is a brand-new market and it’s caught on quite well. I’m surprised at how the customer base has embraced it. We’re doing not only pre-game, but in-game seems to be one of our top offerings as of now.”

“Darts got a little bit of play. You know, it’s a fun sport to watch and I think if you like watching it and you can get a handle on it, you [get to] know the players and how good they are, how the game is played, and what your chances are of winning. That’s what takes the consumer a little time to get used to.”

Ahead of the return of some sporting events, with NASCAR and the PGA Tour primed to reinstate events in May and June, the seemingly successful execution of the virtual draft has laid the groundwork for an entirely new wave of opportunity for US sports in such a trying time as this.

The likes of UFC and WWE have continued behind closed doors with broadcasts being delivered across sporting channels almost as normal, but with large crowds unlikely to return to events in months to come, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has shown there is room for dynamic and innovative opportunities for bringing back America’s sports culture.

Draft appeal

CEO and founder of free-to-play provider Chalkline Sports Daniel Kustelski admits the event “paid off massive dividends.”

“I think that their planning and execution was impeccable. The way they went about it – the process was excellent, and the tone was great,” he adds.

Chalkline produced a F2P offering for regional sports cable and satellite television network NESN for the draft, presenting viewers with an opportunity to predict the initial round in real time.

Kustelski adds: “I would say the NFL Free Agency, which kicked off at the end of March, and the NFL Draft consumed probably 60% to 65% of all the activity across all of our clients [in April]. And those are media clients as well as operators. It was pretty intense here in the US, and I can’t help but think that esports and other offerings were dwarfed by the interest in the NFL Draft.”

The need for constant player engagement is particularly necessary during this relative slump for sports, which could see bettors turn their attention to other verticals or mediums for entertainment. Kustelski says: “And for those states looking to open up to betting this year, or even as a customer acquisition tool [for operators], offering some free-to-play games to engage with people around their passion point just maintains that engagement.”

Many have rightfully suggested that the return to a somewhat regular sporting schedule will signal a return to normality, but while that is a way off yet, the virtual NFL Draft was a tiny glimpse of bettors and sports fans’ former lives.