On Dec. 28, DraftKings quietly launched a new subscription service, dubbed DraftKings Sportsbook+, for select customers located in New York. The new service, which allows for odds boosts on parlays, is the first of its kind–and it could be the company’s tax savior. But will bettors actually subscribe?
Essentially, Sportsbook+ allows subscribers to get better odds on parlays. Each applicable parlay must be at least two legs, and each leg must have odds of -500 or narrower. For each leg added to the parlay, the odds would be improved by 10 percent . In other words, a two-leg parlay would be boosted 10 percent , a three-leg bet would be boosted 20 percent , and so on. Parlays with 11 or more legs would be boosted by 100 percent , or double the original payout. The maximum applicable bet is $25.
Sportsbook+ is not the first attempt by DraftKings to lessen its tax burden. In August, the company announced and then quickly nixed a surcharge on winning bets in Illinois. That plan came in response to the introduction of a higher, tiered tax framework in the state, which is also among the top performers in the U.S.
In addition to the added revenue, the subscription service also drives more bettors toward parlays. Parlays have become the backbone of the modern sports betting business, especially for major operators like Flutter and DraftKings. According to data from Pikkit, an app that lets players sync wagering accounts and track bets, parlays accounted for 50 percent of all the 323 million bets it tracked in 2024. Approximately half of all parlays were same-game parlays, where there are multiple bets on one contest.
But will consumers embrace this fee-based service? In the digital world, we pay for subscriptions for many things. Click here to see how $20 a month for improved parlay odds compares to other services that cost about the same.
