Strategies for using the DraftKings betting splits on VSiN.com
One of the most touted features on the VSiN.com website, and a feature that we believe to be a fantastic resource for bettors, are the Betting Splits pages. These are the pages we have built utilizing the data that DraftKings so graciously provides to us detailing the breakdowns of the money and ticket splits for point spreads, moneylines, and totals.
Why is this Betting Splits information so valuable? Well, most specifically, it lets us see which games are the most publicly supported each week. Let’s face it, we all know the “betting public” does not win over the long haul, and with the amount of money DraftKings spends on acquiring customers, you have to assume that most of the bettors that play there would be considered “public.” In other words, the collective opinions of this group of recreational bettors are right out on display for all of us to analyze and use to our advantage.
With more states regulating sports betting each passing year, this information is more valuable than ever. In the “old days,” offshore sportsbooks would share this type of information, but bettors had no way of knowing the type or volume of clientele these groups were taking on. Let’s just say it made the betting percentage data offered by these places convoluted. With the DraftKings data, we know their customer strength is in numbers, and that is exactly what we are looking for with this type of analysis.
With that said, the fact that DraftKings shares this data with VSiN, and we proudly break it all down and display it, should be a godsend to bettors. While no analysis or system of betting is ever perfect, using this information in the ways I share below can be a good start or finish to your handicapping routine.
Before digging into some of the system data I was able to uncover during the 2022 college football season, I should start you off with two common betting generalities for recreational players that wager at places like DraftKings. That is, the majority bets favorites on the point spread and Overs on totals. The numbers are almost staggering.
According to the final ticket/handle numbers so far this season, wagers have been on favorites in more than 80% of games and on totals to go Over in about 75% of games. Naturally, with favorite/underdog and Over/Under results designed to be split, this leaves a lot of opportunity for books like DraftKings to win. To be clear, I’m not advising to just automatically bet all underdogs and Unders on totals, as that wouldn’t be fun nor profitable, but I’m telling you that in most cases, you would be going “against the public,” giving yourself at least a reasonable chance to profit long term.
About 2/3 of the way through the 2022 season, I ran a study collecting the Betting Splits data and analyzing it against actual results of FBS games. You will see that I basically tried to analyze the records of the “majority bettors” at DraftKings and the side/total they preferred for games. I also broke it down further, sometimes by the percentage of the majority. There are two fields of analysis for each wagering option that DraftKings shares the data for both sides and totals: 1) Handle 2) Number of Bets. These can produce varied results, but in general, I would subscribe to the theory that the total handle is a little less “public” than the total number of bets.
At the time, these were the overall records of the majority bettors for the 2022 college football season using the key terms “Handle” and “Number of Bets.”
