Sports odds data and insights provider Bettormetrics has released a one-week comparison of betting market suspension times for Week 8 of the NCAA football season and Week 9 of the NFL season.
Sportsbooks suspend markets to alter odds. The periods without suspensions are known as uptime. Broadly, the study revealed sportsbooks have much shorter suspension times for NFL games than NCAA games. The study revealed DraftKings had the shortest suspension times for the NFL, with FanDuel coming in second. DraftKings had 94.5 percent uptime and FanDuel had 92.8 percent.
DraftKings slipped to second for college football with 80.5 percent uptime, with FanDuel taking the top spot through 85.7 percent uptime. DraftKings also had the most significant difference between its NFL and college football suspension times of operators, with NCAA suspension times 8.7 percent worse.
DraftKings has recently been lobbying for legalized sports betting in Texas, where there is a significant college football scene.
Hard Rock Sportsbook had the lowest change in uptime, with 73.9 percent uptime for NFL games and 69.3 percent for NCAAF. ESPN BET had the longest suspension times of any sportsbook for both sports – 69.4 percent uptime for the NFL and 61.7 percent for college football.
“The NFL is clearly the American bettor’s favorite competition so it is only a matter of time before sportsbooks shift their focus to its younger sibling, college football, seeking improvements in suspension, uptime and overall trading performance,” Bettormetrics Chief Revenue Officer Sabin Brooks said in a statement. “Those who master suspension in college games will ultimately come out on top. Doing so is a win-win because the bettor will have an improved betting experience meaning they will keep coming back and the operator will be able to bring in more handle, meaning a fly wheel of better product, customer experience and sportsbook profitability.”
