FanDuel Debuts Bet Protect+ For Full-Game Player Prop Injury Protection

• FanDuel today debuted Bet Protect+, an industry-first full-game injury protection option for sports bettors
• Customers can pay a 3% premium on any player prop bet for insurance on injuries
• If a player they bet on is injured and leaves the game, bets will either be refunded or the injured leg of a parlay will be removed

---

FanDuel is now offering its customers the option to pay a nominal fee on any player prop bet for full-game injury protection, an industry-first solution to protect against athletes leaving a matchup due to an injury.

FanDuel today debuted Bet Protect+, an optional feature that allows users to pay a 3% premium on a player prop wager ($0.30 on a $10 bet). If an athlete leaves a game due to an injury and a customer has engaged Bet Protect+ on their prop bet, or as part of a parlay, the individual prop bet will be refunded in cash or the injured leg of the parlay will be removed and the parlay will be recalculated.

“For us, and for me in particular, it all starts with understanding why this matters so much to the customer. Certainly as we got into football season of last year, it was not lost on us how important it is for customers to have the protection they want when it comes to injuries,” Jonathan Sadow, vice president of product for FanDuel Sportsbook, told Sports Betting Dime.

What FanDuel Customers Want

FanDuel Bet Protect+ is available now for NBA pre-live and in-game player prop bets, with plans to roll the program out for other sports in the near future. It is available in all but six states where FanDuel is licensed for sports betting. In states where it is not yet available, FanDuel Bet Protect will still be available.

Bet Protect+ has not yet received regulatory approval for the following states:

• Connecticut
• Massachusetts
• New Jersey
• North Carolina
• Pennsylvania
• Tennessee

FanDuel reached out to customers regarding player injuries and researched various options to meet their needs, Sadow said. The company ultimately felt Bet Protect+ is the best solution to a “persistent pain point” across the industry without sacrificing other benefits for customers.

The sportsbook company ran the concept past its customers during its research and found that more than half said they would opt into paid full-game protection, even choosing it over free partial coverage.

While Bet Protect+ will not be profitable for FanDuel, Sadow said, it will help FanDuel maintain competitive pricing and promotions across the platform for its customers.

“Customers want a lot of different things in terms of how they want to feel rewarded, how they want to feel engaged, how they want us to invest in their experience. That’s tokens, boosts, promotions, and features. We want to be able to say ‘yes and.’ We want to be able to address injuries while also being as generous or more generous than any other sportsbook, while also having the best pricing in the space. We don’t want to say something is free while also taking away profit boost tokens, raising our vig, and things we’re seeing from others in this space,” he said.

While Bet Protect+ is optional, customers will have the ability to toggle it on for every bet they make.

The program puts the power of a refund back into a customers hand, rather than at the discretion of a sportsbook. If a player a customer bets on leaves the game during any point due to an injury and cannot return, Bet Protect+ will trigger the following:

• Straight bet: The wager will be refunded in cash, not bonus bets
• Parlay: The injured leg will be removed and the payout is recalculate

The cost of Bet Protect+ will be displayed in the bet slip before placement.

Bet Protect+ will take the place of FanDuel Bet Protect, which is only available for certain NBA athletes, only covers injuries in the first quarter of NBA games, and refunds stakes as bonus bets instead of cash.

NBA Injuries Occur Most Often in Third Quarter

According to FanDuel research, the third quarter sees the most injuries of an NBA game, at a 30% rate. Injuries are not limited to just the first quarter, the company noted, so bet protection should cover an entire game.

Sadow reported Bet Protect+ will appeal to both casual and serious sports bettors on the FanDuel platform.

“We found in the research and talking to customers, different bettor types see different value that comes from doing this. If you’re a more informed bettor, you may be more particular using this on very specific types of bets, very specific types of players…on the other hand, I think more casual or recreational bettors will turn this on all the time. In fact, we got asked in some of our research, instead of toggling it on for a prevent basis, can I have a setting where this is always on? Take the three percent, I’ll make it back, it will work its way out. I’m hoping different segments of all of our customers will use this,” Sadow said.