Draftkings Super Bowl Contest
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- Draftkings Super Bowl Contests
- Draftkings Super Bowl Contest Matchups
- Draftkings Super Bowl Contest 2019
DraftKings and FanDuel offered single-game fantasy contests based on the Super Bowl for the first time in their histories this Sunday.
How’d they do? The two daily fantasy sports sites combined to take nearly $13 million in entry fees that generated just under $2 million in revenue, according to a sampling of the publicly viewable contests at the two DFS operators. The lion’s share of both figures went to DraftKings.
DraftKings, FanDuel and single-game contests
Sunday’s game between the Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots was the first time either company let users pick players just from the Super Bowl for a daily fantasy football contest.
DraftKings had done contests based on both the Pro Bowl and Super Bowl before, but never just one. The reasons for avoiding single-game contests generally had to do with meeting the stipulations regarding paid-entry fantasy contests in the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. But new state-level fantasy sports laws around the US appear to allow for single-game contests.
DraftKings had rolled out its new contest format — Showdown — for the playoffs and had contests running throughout the postseason (including contests just for the Pro Bowl). FanDuel’s offering came out later.
What went down on Sunday
The two sites generated a great deal of interest for the new offerings.
The guaranteed prize pools for the two biggest Super Bowl-contests at both DraftKings ($2.4 million) and FanDuel ($2 million) were roughly in line with what they would would guarantee during the regular season. The total amount of entry fees, however, fell well short of what the sites would see on a normal NFL weekend, not surprisingly.
DraftKings saw about $8.2 million in entry fees in the sample examined by Legal Sports Report, with the site holding about $1 million of that in revenue. The figures at FanDuel were $4.7 million in handle and $700K in revenue.
How’s that compare to sports betting?
The DFS performance on the Super Bowl comes as we also learned the amount of wagered on the Big Game in Nevada sports betting.
Total handle on the Super Bowl at Nevada sportsbooks: $159 million. Total revenue? $1.6 million.
The revenue side of things points certainly paints a rosy picture for DFS. Sportsbooks held less than one percent of all money wagered; on average, books hold around five percent. The two biggest DFS operators generated almost as much revenue as Nevada books did on far less handle.
Therein lies the rub, however. DFS is a nationwide product in more than 40 states, Canada and some European countries (for DraftKings). Nevada, meanwhile, is just a small state with an influx of people coming just to watch and bet on the Super Bowl. The amount of money flowing through the Nevada sportsbooks was more than 10x DFS handle for the US and beyond.
While you can call the contests successful, I’d say classifying them as a “new hit” is going too far. (Also, all FanDuel and DraftKings have done is boiled down DFS to a single game, an obvious evolution if ever there was one.)
If anything, the contests point out the large gap in opportunity between a future legal sports betting market in the US and DFS. And it’s probably why we’re again hearing chatter from DraftKings that it wants to get into the sports betting business.
“Captain”
Tom Brady ($15,000) vs Chiefs- The popular pick here will probably be either Patrick Mahomes or Travis Kelce, but I am going to go with the 3rd option, Tom Brady. Aside from 3 INTs in the Bucs last game, Brady has been great this postseason as he looks to bring home another Super Bowl title. In his week 12 matchup vs the Chiefs the future hall of famer went on to throw for 345 yards and 3 TDs and in my opinion he has only gotten better since then. It is unclear is Antonio Brown will play but even if he doesn’t, I love Brady in this matchup in what I expect to be a high scoring game all-around.
Flex
Tyreek Hill ($10,400) vs Buccaneers- Aside from Travis Kelce, Tyreek Hill is the bell cow of the Chiefs offense. He comes into this game with 10+ targets in 3 of his last 4 games and he has a total of 282 yards receiving in the last two games combined. His YAC ability is unmatched and is a threat to score any time he touches the ball. His biggest game of the year came against the Bucs when he caught 13 of 15 balls for 269 yards and 3 TDs. Obviously we can’t expect to see that in this game but it is good to see that he has torched this defense once before. The price is steep but warranted here in my opinion.
Leonard Fournette ($7,800) vs Chiefs- Leonard Fournette has taken a firm hold of the backfield for the Bucs and he has been very successful. He hasn’t scored less than 18 FPTS in each of the last 3 games and along with taking the most carries, he has also been very active in the passing game. His price has skyrocketed since then but I like him still, even if Ronald Jones is more healthy in this game. He will likely be used around the goal line a lot as well so take a look at Fournette in a game where the RB isn’t the strongest.
Darrel Williams ($5,200) vs Buccaneers- Even though running backs aren’t likely to be “featured” in this game I think there is still some value to be had with them. Darrel Wililams has scored 13+ FPTS in the last two games and has rushed the ball at least 13 times in both of those games. The Chiefs mantra is obviously to pass the ball but that opens up the running game in some spots. I wouldn’t expect much more than 50 or so yards on the ground but he touches it enough where we could see something more than that.
Cameron Brate ($4,800) vs Chiefs- Cameron Brate has been alright this season but in this type of contest I think he is a player that could be very valuable to DFS owners. He has at least 5 targets in each of the last 3 games and he as a TE he has a pretty decent TD chance. There isn’t a ton to go off of here but Brate always seems to find himself in the action around the red zone and if he could get a cheap short TD that would be great for a player at this price point. If you are looking for a low cost guy without a lot of fanfare, Brate could be the one.
