As the best reviewed and regulated online daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting platform in the United States, DraftKings draws millions of sports bettors to its app and. website from all over America. In fact, its brand is now as ubiquitous with legal sports betting as Kleenex is to tissue and Xerox is to photocopying, et cetera.
The vast majority of DraftKings users are able to enjoy the platform in a healthy and responsible manner. However, a small but important proportion of the population is not. Some have innate vulnerabilities and predispositions to problem gambling behavior. And among this group, are those who self-report as having a DraftKings addiction. For this group, ActionSportsBetting (ASB) has taken the time to put together a resource to help individuals identify whether or not they are not using DraftKings responsibly, along with a carefully vetted recommendation for where to get help today.
How to Identify a Potential Addiction to DraftKings DFS / Sportsbook and Where to Get Immediate Support
Signs of a DraftKings Addiction
You may have been told by friends or coworkers that you have a DraftKings addiction, but do you really? If you exhibit some combination of the following, try-on self-exclusion (see below) and note that intervention from a professional counselor is likely required to take a break or quit.
- You are currently, or frequently, in debt from your activity on DraftKings.
- You gamble more on DraftKings to recover losses sustained on the platform (or other DFS / sports betting sites). This is known as “chasing losses”.
- You ask others for financial help because of money have been lost through DFS / sports betting.
- You have resorted to theft or fraud to support gambling (at least once) through DFS / sports betting.
- You constantly talk about DFS and sports betting.
- You have lost interest in other activities that you once enjoyed due to your sole focus on DraftKings.
- You experience elevated emotions with increases (value and/or frequency) of wagers on DFS and sports betting.
- You need to gamble with increasing amounts of money to get the same thrill that you used to get with smaller wagers on DraftKings.
- You get sad, irritable, restless, and/or anxious when not using DraftKings.
- You visit and use DraftKings to escape problems or relieve feelings of stress, anxiety or depression.
- You neglect education or career opportunities because of time and energy spent on DFS and sports betting.
- You miss important familial and social occasions because of time and energy spent on DFS and sports betting..
- You have become distant from friends and family because of time and energy spent on DFS and sports betting.
- You have lied to others about your DraftKings habit.
- You have tried to control, cut down on, or stop using DraftKings, without success.
What Makes Someone Vulnerable to DraftKings Addiction
Certain populations have built-in vulnerabilities to gambling, including DFS / sports betting, addiction. It’s a complex situation, but it will help you to identify if you are included in one or more of the following categories. If so, and you exhibit signs/symptoms of a DraftKings addiction, intervention from a specialized counseling service is very likely needed.
Populations Vulnerable to Gambling Addiction
- Competitive athletes
- Thrill seekers (including us action sports enthusiasts)
- Military personnel and veterans
- Young adult males (although young adult women is a growing population of concern)
Mental Health Issues that Occur with Gambling Addiction
In addition (and sometimes in union with) the populations above, there are mental health issues that research has shown to cooccur with gambling addition. These include the following:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Stress
- ADHD
- Bipolar Disorder
- OCD
- PTSD
- Chronic Anger and Irritability
How DraftKings Helps
In our experience, DraftKings has the most robust gambling addiction program of all DFS / sportsbooks in the United States.
For one, their self-exclusion periods can be set to a few days (which they refer to as a “Cool Off Period”) to weeks, months, or years. Of course, this is standard for most regulated DFS / sports betting sites in the USA. But what sets DK apart, is the partnership they have made with what we know (after investigation) to be the top sports betting addiction counseling service in the United States. Read below.
FREE COUNSELING for DraftKings Addiction
As the popularity of legal DFS and sports betting grows across the United States, so do the reported instances of problem gambling, and subsequently a rise in the number of supposed problem gambling treatment providers. After having carefully analyzed and reviewed the marketplace of counselors, therapists, and treatment platforms purporting to offer DraftKings addiction treatment, we came across one that may actually be the only platform that is not only effective, but is a partner with DraftKings. That’s right, DraftKings trusts this provider above all others to take care of its players/members who have stayed off the path of responsible gambling. We bounced this around the remote offices of ASB staff, and most were familiar with Kindbridge Behavioral Health. One of our writers (we don’t name names) has even used their service on more than one occasion. Here is a list of benefits of using Kindbridge to overcome a DraftKings addiction:
- Counseling is FREE to DraftKings members who opt-in for self-exclusion.
- Counselors specialize in specifically treating DFS / sports betting addiction (versus general therapy).
- Counseling is available by phone and online, and is available 24/7.
- Their counseling services actually work. Check out their recent treatment reports for 2025 here and here.
Look, it’s no secret that even though we are America’s first non-biased referral site for alternative and action sports betting, we do have affiliate agreements in place with platforms that we have vetted and trust. What we don’t have, are partnership deals with mental health providers. Is that even a thing? So when we tell you that when after having looked at all of the services out there (including BetterHelp, etc.) we only arrived at one that we feel will do justice for anyone searching for help for DraftKings addiction. We’ll let them speak for themselves. Check out the FREE DraftKings program at Kindbridge here.