DraftKings Contest Problem Floods Twitter With Angered Players

• DraftKings has been getting a lot of flack for its very weird start to their Best Ball Contest this year.
• Back in January, the company had problems with their Millionaire Maker Contest which begs the question as to whether or not DraftKings can hold a contest and come out unscathed by conspiracy.

BOSTON – DraftKings Best Ball Contest launch ran into some issues early on regarding how it was being run with players making their frustrations known via a storm of angry tweets toward the Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) and sports betting juggernaut last week.

Originally, fans had to buy in to play in the contest with fees ranging anywhere from $1- $530.

Then suddenly, the company gave away a bunch of free $20 entries which was the beginning of the problem for players that had to pay to play while others were able to play for free and given the same shot at winning the grand prize.

Flag on the play for that move, DraftKings.

What Twitter Was Saying

Multiple people on Twitter voiced numerous conspiracy theories about DraftKings. Some believe the business was using bots for the contest, others were confused at 12 quarterback rosters being allowed.

None of it made any sense and it took people back to all of the times that DraftKings has encountered problems with their contests, most recently, this past January with the whole Jade Roper-Tolbert collusion.

Roper-Tolbert a former contestant on “The Bachelor” won the Millionaire Maker contest for a $1 million prize only to be stripped of the title and winnings after it was said that she worked with her husband to make her picks as they both entered the contest and chose opposite rosters.

Prior to that, years ago, DraftKings had players named winners that were in fact employees of the business.

These are all red flags that have left customers scratching their heads at how a company as large and successful as DraftKings can have such bumps when it comes to contest operations as their day to day operations run pretty smoothly.

One Twitter user, Justin Herzig, spoke out against DraftKings and has since had much more to say on the matter.

Despite what most of Twitter was saying, some players enjoyed the aftermath of “bots talk” as they were able to capitalize on the situation. They didn’t believe there were any bots but more so that people that were able to play for free were drafting ridiculously because it was free of charge.

While the $20 contest was the one that received the spike in player engagement, other more expensive contests were still okay.

“I joined more because players that would normally be gone by a certain point in the draft were around longer so it felt like I had an edge on these newer players,” said Michael Iannone to LegalSportsBetting. “I’m probably biased because I wasn’t playing the contest until these bots/newer players joined. So, I was trying to take advantage of that with whoever in my eyes was playing poorly.”

Now What?

If there was a bet made on whether or not further problems and possible legal issues could be seen down the line with the Best Ball Contest, it’s one that many sports bettors would be willing to take given the history DraftKings has had with contests.

Upon reaching out to the company on the matter, they told LegalSportsBetting that the contest is being run correctly for all players to participate.

“Our customers are at the core of everything we do and we strive every day to ensure that we are providing the best possible experience for everyone;” said a spokesman for DraftKings. “In this case, we ran a limited promotion and the response was outstanding from the vast majority of our customers. We understand that there were some questions from a small group of customers and we have addressed those with the individuals directly.”

News tags: Best Ball Contest | DraftKings | Jade Roper-Tolbert | Millionaire Maker Contest | NFL | The Bachelor | Twitter