Comcast Bets Big on Live Sports With DraftKings Xfinity X1 Integration

Posted on: March 12, 2024, 10:43h. 

Last updated on: March 12, 2024, 10:54h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More

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Comcast and DraftKings are teaming up for a new immersive live sports and betting experience on the telecommunications giant’s Xfinity X1 cable television service.

A release from Comcast says it will debut the Xfinity Odds Zone on X1 this week with The Players  Championship golf tournament. Dubbed golf’s “fifth major,” the Players typically features one of the strongest fields in golf and has the sport’s largest prize pool, with this year’s tournament purse at $25 million.

The Odds Zone, Comcast reps say, will allow sports fans to watch live coverage while simultaneously seeing the latest odds from DraftKings. QR codes on the screen will allow DraftKings sports bettors to seamlessly place a wager, with the bet being finalized on their mobile device.

For sports fans, there is no better way to track in-play odds than right next to the live event, so we’re working with DraftKings to bring customers a transformative experience that makes it easy to follow the action and initiate bets while the event unfolds,” said John Dixon, Comcast’s senior vice president of entertainment.

Xfinity X1 customers can easily access the Odds Zone by using the voice remote and saying “sports app” or by pressing the “c” button. Comcast plans to expand the Odds Zone for the upcoming men’s and women’s March Madness college basketball tournaments, plus the NBA and NHL playoffs.

TruTV this week announced a similar integration of sports betting for its upcoming coverage of the March Madness tournaments.

Players Might Oppose Odds Zone

The expansion of legal sports betting has been beneficial for sports leagues and governing bodies, as wagering is said to increase fan engagement. But some PGA Tour players have voiced complaints about unruly bettors. Being an individual sport, many pro golfers say they’ve been subjected to heightened heckling.

Fan-favorite Max Homa said last summer that he was heckled by a drunk fan at the BMW Championship outside of Chicago at Olympia Fields.

“One of them had $3 for me to miss [my putt],” Homa told reporters. “I got to the back of my stroke and he yelled, ‘Pull it!’ pretty loud.”

Homa made the putt before he and his caddie had some “choice words” for the “fan.”

PLAYERS Favorites

After finding his putting stroke at Bay Hill last weekend, world number one Scottie Scheffler arrives in Ponte Vedra Beach as the hottest player on the PGA Tour. That’s led to Scheffler being the heavy favorite for this week’s Players.

Scheffler to finish in the top five is at +140 and to finish in the top 10 is at -140.