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.

Things were going so well for DraftKings’ first-ever $2.5 million Sports Betting National Championship.

It was exciting. It brought fun and competition to sports betting.

Unfortunately, DraftKings couldn’t stick the landing.

Controversy ensued.

Now what?

So what happened at DraftKings was…

Held in New Jersey from Friday through Sunday, the DraftKings Sportsbook event had participants vying for $2.5M in total prizes. Whoever ran their starting bankroll up the highest by the final eligible game (Eagles vs. Saints) would take home $1 million for first.

Read The Lines live blogging of the event here.

Everything was going without a hitch until the very end.

Thanks to some garbage-time scoring, the Chargers vs. Patriots game ran late, ending a few minutes before the start of Eagles vs. Saints.

Bettors who had all or a significant chunk of their bankroll in Chargers vs. Patriots needed those wagers to be settled / graded out in order to get in on the Eagles vs. Saints game.

Some bettors were settled in time.

Buuuuut some weren’t.

And therein lies the rub.

Had Chargers vs. Patriots just gone on a few minutes longer, or had all bets on that game not been settled in time for Eagles vs. Saints, no problem. That’s not what happened.

One particularly high-profile competitor, former ESPN writer Rufus Peabody, was potentially impacted the most. Peabody, who was in first place, had his entire bankroll (save .01) tied up at the start of Eagles vs. Saints.

Balance $0.01. Game: started pic.twitter.com/0uPwb9Gcn3

— Rufus Peabody (@RufusPeabody) January 13, 2019

He ended up finishing third for $250,000.

Others surely were impacted to lesser degrees.

For more details, read Legal Sports Report here.

DraftKings handled this well, right?

Weeeeellll…

DraftKings did quickly put out a statement regarding the controversy:

“The first ever Sports Betting National Championship was an incredibly thrilling event. We recognize that in the rules the scheduled end of betting coincided very closely to the finish of the of Patriots-Chargers game.

While we must follow our contest rules, we sincerely apologize for the experience several customers had where their bets were not graded in time to allow wagering on the Saints-Eagles game. We will learn from this experience and improve upon the rules and experience for future events.”

This is a perfectly fine first-step response. It’s factually accurate. Leading with “incredibly thrilling event” is a little tacky considering how payout timing impacted some participants and the general “come on, DraftKings” public perception building over this miscue. And the reality is they likely have a team of lawyers massaging every word of what the next statement will be. Understandable.

The contest itself was obviously flubbed at the end, and the first response was adequate though not great. DraftKings could have been more emphatic in their remorse and forceful in fixing the situation, but the reality is they quickly had to shift celebratory shilling to disaster mode.

This all sets up an interesting few weeks ahead.

What should DraftKings do now?

This is a difficult situation. First, let’s be clear: the overall concept of the contest was great. It’s a creative and fun way to generate excitement for sports betting, content and publicity for DraftKings, and could have been used as a template in other states.

When you hold events with gaming authority oversight, the very first things you must ask yourself is: “OK, what could go wrong here? And if something do goes wrong, what’s the fix?”

DraftKings might have asked themselves those questions, but they certainly didn’t have any implementable answers.

They’re stuck in impossible situation because of it.

They simply can’t issue Rufus Peabody a “make-good” settlement as that opens up a huge can-of-worms. First, you must trust that Rufus, or anyone else, is telling the truth over whatever wager was going to be placed. It’s possible not entering wagers in the final game was the best thing that could have happened to Rufus or others.

Here’s one suggested route for DraftKings to follow:

• Apologize profusely. Their initial statement, while all true and accurate, lacked a level of contrition for those negatively impacted or understanding of how this situation could snowball.
• Fix the contest rules. This is a given and was already hit upon by DraftKings, but if DraftKings is ever going to be allowed to hold such an event in New Jersey (or elsewhere) again, they must have contest rules that consider all worst-case scenarios and “emergency, break-glass” solutions. There’s a reason why people are playing BetStars and not BetTilt in New Jersey today. It’s because PokerStars had (among other things) an emergency plan it case things hit the fan. Hard lesson learned. DraftKings will hopefully issue their “how we’ll keep this from happening again” in short order.
• Be proactive with NJ Department of Gaming Enforcement. While maybe not this flippantly, DraftKings needs to have their Otter moment with New Jersey gaming. Reasonable people understand we’re all traveling into new frontiers with sports betting in America. In a situation like this, how you handle it usually determines the eventual outcome. Fess up, be proactive, offer solutions, collaborate, move on.
• Wait on NJ for answers. Unfortunately for those impacted, this is the safest route for DraftKings to take. You fall on the sword of New Jersey Gaming. Yes, still be proactive regulators, but ultimately let them dictate the solution. They’re the boss. As long as they’re working with regulators, DraftKings will likely have a say in the final outcome anyway. This is the safest and smartest path to follow.

While a mess, everything preceding the settlement issue was a positive showcase for sports betting. Hopefully, DraftKings gets the next steps right and is afforded a second chance.