The new NFL season had barely begun before star players Xavier Worthy and George Kittle were sidelined by injuries, leading some US sportsbooks to refund millions of dollars to customers on prop bets.
One of the latest trends among commercial sportsbooks involves protecting bettors from early injuries. Fanatics was the first commercial book to enact such a policy before the start of last year’s NFL season. The “Fair Play” policy kicked in again when Worthy suffered an early shoulder injury in Kansas City’s loss to the LA Chargers in Brazil.
Fanatics said it refunded 80,000 bets, totaling $1.5 million, due to Worthy’s injury.
But are bettors entitled to refunds in these cases? There’s an ongoing debate about refunds that has been brewing for years. SuperBook Vice President of Risk Management Jeff Sherman works for a market-making book in Las Vegas. Sherman told CasinoBeats that the SuperBook does not “refund player props once a player plays.”
Sherman added: “Injuries are part of the gamble in sports.”
How do NFL Early Injury Refunds Work at Commercial Sportsbooks?
ESPN Bet, DraftKings, and FanDuel followed in Fanatics’ footsteps with early injury refund policies. Here is how each sportsbook handles early NFL injuries:
Fanatics’ ‘Fair Play’ Policy
As the pioneer of these programs, Fanatics has a dedicated team that monitors injuries and communicates refunds to its customers. Refunds are issued if a player is injured in the first half of an NFL game and doesn’t return. That was the case when Kittle suffered a hamstring injury with a little over 10 minutes remaining in the second quarter of San Francisco’s win over Seattle.
ESPN Bet’s ‘Injury Insurance’
ESPN Bet implemented a similar policy ahead of this NFL season. The sportsbook will refund wager amounts with bonus bets if the selected player goes down with an injury in the first half and is ruled out for the rest of the game.
DraftKings’ ‘Early Exit’ Program
DraftKings launched its “Early Exit” program in August. The time threshold for injuries suffered in NFL games is the first half, and the following bets are protected:
- Pre-match player prop bets
- Full game player prop bets
- Single bets
- Parlays and Same Game Parlays (SGP/SGPx)
FanDuel ‘Bet Protect’ Policy
It’s always important to read the terms and conditions for each sportsbook’s refund policy. FanDuel’s “Bet Protect” only covers game-ending injuries that occur in the first quarter of the game. In that case, Bet Protect is automatically applied, and the full bet stake will be refunded as bonus bets. Per the policy, the bet settles as a loss when the game ends, but refunds will be issued within 24 hours.
FanDuel bettors were covered after Worthy went down early in the first quarter, but Kittle backers were out of luck with his injury coming in the second quarter.
Angry Bettors Complain About Lack of Refunds at Caesars & BetMGM
Not everybody was granted a refund when Worthy suffered his early injury. Caesars Sportsbook and BetMGM are among the major commercial sportsbooks that don’t offer protection to bettors against early injuries. Not surprisingly, both faced some blowback on X in the wake of Worthy’s injury.
The debate about refunds will undoubtedly continue, but with more and more NFL bettors threatening to change sportsbooks online, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see additional protection programs put in place.
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