Just hope they aren’t injured late
Sports betting leader DraftKings has introduced a new option to help customers ease the pain of losing a bet if an athlete gets injured. With the “Early Exit” program, customers will receive cash credits to their accounts “when a bet is materially impacted by a player’s early exit due to injury.”
Not every type of bet is covered by Early Exit – only pre-match and full-game player prop bets fall under the Early Exit program’s umbrella. Both individual bets and parlays count.
Additionally, not every moment of a game is covered, either. The player has to leave the game fairly early for the Early Exit program to kick in (hence the name, I suppose). Here are the thresholds for the Early Exit program:
• MLB: pitcher exits before three outs, batter leaves before his second plate appearance, provided he was a starter
• NBA and WNBA regular season: 1st quarter
• NBA postseason: 1st half (there is no Early Exit window for WNBA postseason)
• NFL regular and postseason: 1st quarter
• NHL regular and postseason: 1st period
• Golf: player withdraws before the start of the 2nd round
• Soccer: subbed out during the 1st half (club and international friendlies not included)
Customers who place single bets will receive cash credits for the amount of the bet. For parlays, customers will get cash credits based on the recalculated odds if the rest of the legs win.
Bets that will not be eligible for Early Exit credits are those that were “unconditionally” determined before the player left with an injury, like if an athlete already hit an “over” prop bet. DraftKings will count “under” bets as wins if the athlete did not hit the prop bet mark.
Larger reason than just being nice?
Sports bettors often let the sportsbooks hear it on social media if they lose a bet because an athlete got hurt. There have been times that sportsbooks refunded bets as a goodwill gesture, so DraftKings’ Early Exit program effectively makes that goodwill gesture a permanent fixture.
There is a possibility that this was done partially as a way to protect customers against athletes intentionally manipulating prop bets, though eliminating certain prop bets altogether would be the better form of protection.
Last year, the NBA banned the Toronto Raptors’ Jontay Porter for life for faking injuries in order to leave games early so that co-conspirators could win bets they placed on him going under certain prop bet targets. In one game, he said he reaggravated a previous injury and in another, he said he was sick. In both, he left after playing just a few minutes, not coming close to the prop bet targets.
The same federal probe that uncovered Porter’s malfeasance has also trained itself on the Miami Heat’s Terry Rozier, though he has not been accused of anything.
In June, it was reported that Malik Beasley was also under investigation, as heavy betting on under props raised red flags at sportsbooks. Interestingly, he easily hit the over in the specific game under the microscope.
The post DraftKings Launches Early Exit Program to Refund Bettors When Athletes Get Hurt appeared first on Poker News Daily.
About The Author
