As more states step into the sports gambling arena, I have heard questions from many in the sports radio business wondering just how safe and reliable books like DraftKings and FanDuel are for their listeners. They also have hesitations about promoting a service that they either don't fully partake in themselves, or that they are not wholly familiar with, as their listeners associate their name with the product.
In the past week alone, I have taken questions from multiple individuals from states where sports gambling is either about to become legal, or has just opened up for business. One of the questions I was asked–and couldn't fully answer–was my thoughts on two of the major sports books that were offering advertising money. It made me realize that, while there are plenty of reviews out there for bettors, many reviews are done by people who got free credit on a site, or were being paid to promote it.
Therefore, over the next few months I will be doing a series of sports book reviews, with my own funding and no ties whatsoever to any of the companies, to help assist those in the radio business with both the pros and cons for many of these sites. Our first review will be for FanDuel, whose product provided many pros and a fair amount of cons–many of which, unfortunately for them, are out of their control.
On Friday, I made my first deposit with FanDuel, as I wanted to get some wagers placed for the Champions League Final on Saturday afternoon. The process was fairly straightforward, as I had to provide my physical location and prove that I lived in Indiana. That said, I immediately ran into a hiccup when my financial institution declined the transaction due to policies against funding gambling accounts. This is one of the main issues many new bettors run into, which thankfully can be avoided by using a service such as PayPal. I was offered a $50 sign-up bonus, which despite being told could take up to 72 hours to appear was in my account in less than ten minutes!
I set up the entire account on my main PC without any other issues, which is why I was confused when I logged in after my deposit and was told FanDuel could not verify my location. The geolocation service used by the company detects your location and checks for things such as VPN, a virtual private network, (which I learned, unfortunately for me, you cannot even have installed, running or not) or remote access due to state legislation.
No worries, I thought, as I reached out to customer service. After a few clicks, I was into their chat module, which had me speaking to a real person within five minutes. Although he was unable to help me with the issue, as again the third-party company controls the geolocation services, he was very friendly and understood my concerns. I would later discover that the geolocation issue was due to my hard-wired PC not having wifi, as nearby wifi signals are what the service uses to determine your actual location, thus avoiding VPN spoofing or remote-access software. While this isn't FanDuel's fault, it is something they (and other books) may want to advise customers to avoid confusion.
I downloaded the FanDuel app to my phone, and I must say that after years of using Bovada's web-based site for my betting activities, this was a wonderful experience in comparison. The app is easy to use, is laid out very well, and features extremely user-friendly navigation. The "bets" tab is very helpful for viewing what open wagers you currently have, but I was more impressed that, upon opening a contest I had already bet on, it laid the active wagers out immediately for me. This prevented me on more than one occasion from placing a duplicate bet.
I did run into some issues, however, while using the service. My biggest complaint was the lack of a "search" feature. I love to gamble on soccer more than any other sport, and sometimes finding a specific match is a bit difficult. Other sites, such as DraftKings, allow you to search for specific teams or even games, but that is not something FanDuel offers at this time. This is a real inconvenience when attempting to get a wager in at the last minute. I was also a bit disappointed at the lack of some wagering options that are prevalent on other services, such as team totals in soccer and live-wagering on events such as the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday.
Another issue outside of their control is how quickly you get timed out. This can become a real problem on the mobile app, which requires you to fully type in your password after not using the service for about five minutes. Unlike the website, where you can use your browser to auto-fill the password and quickly log back in, it's another small nuisance that can become problematic when trying to get a wager in quickly. This is another item that is outside of FanDuel's control, as this is required by the geolocation provider to ensure the service refreshes and picks up your location accurately.
That said, these were small, mostly first-world problems that some may not bother the more casual gambler. I was very impressed with the security options that FanDuel offers. First, they have a notification setting (which you can disable, thankfully) that sends you an email every time you log in. To further protect your account, two-step authentication is available, and is promoted to you during the sign-up process. For someone like myself who wants quick access to lines, I declined to incorporate the added measure, but it's reassuring that they not only offer it, but actively alert new customers to its availability.
I was stunned as well as how quickly they settled winning wagers. Having used Bovada for years, where wagers could sometimes go hours without winnings being returned to my account, I was pleasantly surprised with how some wagers were settled within seconds of being decided. FanDuel also has a substantially strong "same game parlay" feature, perhaps the best of any book in the United States at this time, and their odds were far and above what I was able to price out at books such as DraftKings and Bovada for the same plays.
Lastly, FanDuel has numerous bonus offers and promotions running on a daily basis. Whether it's free plays, boosted odds–such as moving the line for Liverpool to lift the trophy from -175 to even money (+100) as Pat McAfee's promoted play–or featured "same game parlays" for big events, there are plenty of ways to earn free wagers on the site. In fact, I was offered a risk-free play up to $1,000 for my very first wager, which I used on a +1000 parlay that unfortunately did not hit, and within minutes the money was returned to my account for use.
It's hard for me to advise anybody to promote a product they haven't tried themselves, but if anybody asked me my thoughts on taking a sponsorship deal with FanDuel, I would advise them to jump on it. Their product is substantially safer and more reliable than an off-shore service or a local bookie, is well-secured and regulated, and offers strong customer service with solid bonuses. I deposited money to the site without knowing if I would stay on board after reviewing, but after enjoying FanDuel to wager on soccer and baseball all weekend, I have no plans to withdraw my money anytime soon.
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