DraftKings pilots new subscription for odds boosts

DraftKings is continuing to experiment with its sportsbook model, looking into alternative services it may offer and subsequently charge to consumers to boost operating results and profitability.

At a time of mounting and governmental scrutiny, DraftKings has had some ill-conceived ideas, such as a cheerfully proposed surcharge on winning bets to help the operator stave mounting tax pressure, which had to be scrapped following discontent from sports fans, and ridicule from competitors.

DraftKings wants to boost your betting odds – for a price

Yet, DraftKings’ new idea of rolling out a subscription service that gives punters odds boosts could in fact be a smart way to achieve the company’s hoped-for operational boost without disillusioning sports bettors.

The DraftKings Sportsbook+ service has now been launched as a pilot in New York, and it offers "Unlimited Stepped Up Boost Tokens" that will be available 30 minutes from the time you have subscribed.

DraftKings has looked to offer enough wiggle room for sports fans to do with the boosts as they please, and the service allows you to apply the tokens on parlays and same game parlays, giving them up to a 100% profit boost on winning parlays, which need to be of 11 or more legs (this is the number of sports betting selections you have placed).

The service has already been up and running since December 28, 2024, but it has only been popularized now. Much like with its surcharge tax idea, the push to be more creative has been occasioned by toughening marketing conditions.

New York has been charging a flat 51% tax rate on sports betting operations, which has made it hard for companies to generate profit, let alone stay competitive.

Naturally, the company is couching its own motivation in slightly more cheerful terms, arguing that DraftKings Sportsbook+ is in fact geared to offer customers an enhanced fan experience instead.

DraftKings is naturally in for boosting its bottom line, but at the same time – offering fans something in return. Focusing on parlay bets seems to have successfully tapped into several core trends that are important to the firm’s operational stability and resilience.

DraftKings seizes the momentum of the parlay betting boom

Although the US sports betting market has been dubbed a duopoly, pointing out to the fact that FanDuel and DraftKings are the country’s sports betting powerhouses, both are keen to remain ahead of each other.

DraftKings has acknowledged the need to find some other way to incentivize spending to retain its competitive edge in places such as New York (the surcharge idea was also linked to the Empire State), while also tapping into the growing popularity of parlay bets.

Parlays are easily the most wagered markets in most markets across the United States. Colorado’s most recent sports betting results pointed out that parlays had indeed been the most wagered markets.

Apart from this, the company also outlined plans to follow-up on the prediction market model pioneered by Kalshi, a US Commodity Futures Trading Commission regulated trading company that has been offering this innovative form of making predictions about the future.

Kalshi has recently got into hot water with the CFTC over whether the market could offer prediction markets on political races, which it successfully argued in court it could.

Even more recently, the CFTC told Kalshi to discontinue wagers on the fate of Luigi Mangione, the presumed killer of UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson.

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