Photo By – Imagn Images.I was annoyed my entire Christmas break because one of my many, unnecessary streaming services was bugging me about an expiring credit card.Such was my annoyance that I refused to update my info out of spite. My subscription has now lapsed and I have no plans to renew it, even with my new credit card. Let that be a lesson for you big media companies: no one ruins my holiday but me. Having thought I put that personal bugaboo behind me, I was jolted on Friday to see the news (first reported by Sportico) that DraftKings has launched an online sports betting subscription service, starting with users in New York. DraftKings Sportsbook+ will run bettors $20 a month (after the free trial) and provide them an unlimited amount of “‘Stepped Up’ Boost Tokens” they can use on parlays and same-game parlays. The max wager for said parlays is $25 and the maximum boost you can get is 100% for an 11-leg monstrosity.I’ll be honest with you. My initial reaction was WTF? Why this? Why now? Why, well, generally? Are we not all paying for the privilege of online sports betting with the money we wager? And are we not already doing that on a consistent basis? There must be thousands of people engaged in an unspoken parlay subscription plan already, who consistently construct and lose SGPs. So would anyone pay another $20 monthly to boost a bad bet?But I had to take a step back and breathe. Maybe I was bitter because of my brief spat of subscription-based and self-inflicted mental warfare over the holiday. There is inarguably a large population of bettors who love parlays, and who love parlays of $25 or less, so the customer base for this could be big. Maybe some of these bettors are smart and see an edge.And maybe there is also a population of bettors out there who view parlays as a hobby, or works of art they assemble with care and treat like their child. For them, $20 a month for larger hypothetical returns on their children may make sense. And, perhaps for some, only the finest SGPs will do, and a parlay subscription may function as a status symbol.
“We are excited to present select, eligible customers in New York with the opportunity to try DraftKings Sportsbook Plus – a premium subscription service that offers participants up to a 100% profit boost on all winning parlays,” a DraftKings spokesperson told Covers. “The subscription service was designed to offer our customers an enhanced fan experience, creating more excitement and value to our extensive parlay offering.”
So, despite my suspicions, let’s assume some bettors want this. Well, they have got it. Make it make senseHowever, if you put yourself in DraftKings’ shoes, this all makes a lot more sense. If successful, DraftKings Sportsbook+ represents a new source of recurring revenue. It also nudges bettors toward parlays, a higher-margin product because people lose them more often than straight bets. DraftKings’ decision to offer its subscription service in New York
Ven. Gen 10th, 2025
