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Amid all of DraftKings‘ moves towards sports betting, the company continues to innovate on its bread-and-butter, daily fantasy sports.
The company will soon release Flash Draft, which will allow players to compete in DFS contests after the game has begun.
How Flash Draft works
For right now, Flash Draft will only occur during football games. Play will only be available via mobile devices.
Competitors will draft athletes based upon their expected fantasy performances in the second, third and fourth quarters. The drafts will begin 30 seconds after the end of the previous quarter. All players will begin making selections at the same time.
Each draft will consist of five rounds. A round will be 15 seconds long, and competitors must choose from three given options. There will be no salary considerations involved in Flash Draft.
The player whose selections accumulate the most points will win the contest. Each Flash Draft will maintain a leaderboard to determine the victor.
Every Flash Draft will bear both a guaranteed prize and a bonus prize. The number of players in each contest will determine the amount of the bonus prize.
Flash Draft adds an extra layer of interest to games
This innovation from DraftKings will cause players to remain focused throughout an entire game. Effectively, “garbage time” may become a very big deal for some viewers.
Flash Draft should allow for an extra amount of skill and reasoning from players. The idea of the innovation is to give players the ability to adjust to in-game developments.
In a way, it would nullify some of the advantage that a number-crunching competitor might have. In-game performances always contain an X-factor, with certain players meeting, exceeding or failing to meet expectations.
To that end, Flash Draft might also help to act as a hedge for players whose initial selections are not working out. If a player’s selections are having off-games, Flash Draft would allow that player to ride the trend of the game.
DraftKings is creating a larger trend in sports betting
Flash Draft dovetails perfectly with one of the features on the DraftKings Sportsbook. The sportsbook features a quite robust in-play betting option.
Players can bet on portions of games at any time. Some bets can be as low as 10 cents.
The nice thing about in-game betting is that, like Flash Draft, players can hedge against their losses if a contest is proceeding unexpectedly. The ability to cash in on up-to-the-minute trends negates the hopeless feeling of having an ill-fated bet.
However, DraftKings is taking this concept a step further with its live ticket system. The system, which debuted in NJ sports betting last week, is a step forward in the young US sports wagering industry.
Sports betting innovation
Essentially, every bet on the DraftKings Sportsbook is available for cashout during most of the contest. Players have the option of settling their open tickets by hitting a button displayed at the top of their interface.
The appeal of the live ticket system is that it allows players to book their wins early. For a reduced payout, DK bettors don’t have to sweat the possibility of a late-game collapse.
The live ticket system extends even to parlay bets. Players are able to get paid for winning the first (or second) leg of a parlay, rather than contending with the all-or-nothing prospect of the last contest.
So, the introduction of Flash Draft to the DK universe is not terribly surprising, given the company’s focus on keeping player interest throughout the entirety of a given event. The shortened timeframe works perfectly for a younger demographic of technologically-savvier consumer.
In other words, in a world of short attention spans, Flash Draft makes a lot of sense.
