DraftKings Sportsbook is launching a Super Bowl squares contest? You bet. And you can play and win in any state, not just in New Jersey.
Over time, Super Bowl “squares” contests have become as much a workplace staple as office gossip and politics.
The game is simple in concept and adds a little extra intrigue to the sports calendar’s proverbial national holiday. Typically, an 8.5 x 11 sheet with multiple rows and columns form boxes that have numbers within them. There are a number of variations of the game that have been developed over time.
However, the usual trigger for a cash is the second digit of the score of each team at the end of each quarter matching those belonging to a square one owns.
DraftKings Super Bowl Promo: Squares
For the upcoming 53rd edition of The Big Game, DraftKings Sportsbook is putting its own unique spin on the tried-and-true favorite of Super Bowl betting. The company’s aptly named Squares is free to play and feature a prize pool in excess of $50,000. There will be more cash added by DraftKings for every 100,000 entries in the contest.
And you don’t even have to be in New Jersey to play, according to DK, but it exists only on the Sportsbook app, not in the daily fantasy sports product.
Conventional versions of squares contests typically allow participants to gobble up multiple spots on the sheet. This ups an individual’s odds and increases the overall prize pool, potentially creating a demand for additional “sheets” in the process.
However, the trade-off to DK’s non-existent entry fee is that participants only get access to one square, which remains attached to that player for all quarters, including any overtime period (s).
The nuts and bolts of the contest are as follows:
- Before the Super Bowl kicks off, a player selects a square on a blank digital “board” that emulates that of a traditional money-based squares contest.
- Once the game begins, the numbers assigned to each square will be revealed.
- If the final digit of both team’s score at the end of each quarter matches the numbers on the participant’s square, that participant wins a cash prize.
- Each square on the board naturally can and will be selected by multiple users. Each user that selected a winning square will be awarded a matching, corresponding cash prize.
Another square product for the Super Bowl
The DraftKings Squares contest evokes some memories of a similar free-to-play game rolled out by primary competitor FanDuel for Super Bowl LII.
FD’s Big Game Bingo also had Super Bowl viewers paying rapt attention during the game to see if they’d score cash or prizes. However, that game was centered on props, both football and non-football related. It also featured other prizes besides direct cash payouts — gift cards for use at contest sponsor Game Stop and an XBox One Madden NFL 18 bundle were two such examples.
In contrast, DK ‘s contest focuses solely on football-based outcomes and cash. And as was the case with Big Game Bingo, there is no paid-entry version available for DraftKings Super Bowl Squares.
