ESPN BET users find themselves with a nice gift from the platform ahead of the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles opening the 2025-26 NFL season.
Key Takeaways
- ESPN BET introduced a new injury insurance measure for NFL player props this season.
- The move will provide fans with refunds for prop bets or adjust parlays if a player included is injured in the first half.
- It continues a recent trend within the industry, as other books like FanDuel, DraftKings, and Fanatics introduced similar policies.
The PENN Entertainment-owned platform has become the latest to introduce injury insurance, helping to avoid bettor disappointment if a player ends up with an untimely injury.
“This football season, ESPN BET is introducing injury insurance for all NFL games,” ESPN BET said via a release. “If a key player gets injured in the first half and is ruled out for the remainder of the game, pre-game prop bets involving that player will be refunded as bonus bets, and parlay legs will be voided and odds for the remaining legs automatically recalculated.”
Under bets will also be graded as winners.
Policy growing in popularity
The move continues a growing trend for sportsbooks, with FanDuel, DraftKings, and Fanatics among those to introduce the popular bettor-friendly measure.
Fanatics, whose Fair Play policy covers both the first half of NFL and NBA games, extended the injury policy during the NBA playoffs. Key injuries to the likes of Jimmy Butler and Stephen Curry during the early rounds of the postseason saw bettors refunded in cash or get their bets settled as a win.
Following suit, DraftKings introduced their Early Exit program this past summer following MLB’s Speedway Classic when Chase Burns' start got rained out, which voided bets and returned players' cash credits equal to the amount wagered.
DraftKings' policy is the most comprehensive, covering all four major leagues, the WNBA, golf, and non-friendly soccer matches, with varying timeframes for each.
Before ESPN BET, FanDuel was the latest to introduce the policy, with Bet Protect similarly covering NFL player props within the first quarter of a game. The program only covers pre-live bets for offensive players and select defensive player markets.
