DraftKings became the first online and mobile sportsbook to begin offering AAF betting on Wednesday.

The AAF launched their first season two weeks ago to a surprisingly high TV ratings during the first week, but bettors were left in the dark as only MGM offered any odds on AAF games.

The Betting Friendly Football League

The AAF gained some recognition back in fall of 2018 for announcing they would be a particularly betting-friendly league. Unlike the NFL, the AAF would actively be looking for ways to offer new betting opportunities for players to take advantage of.

DraftKings becomes the first outside sportsbook to begin offering odds on the AAF. The new league partnered with MGM in 2018, so the US casino giant was offering odds all the way back in week 1, but no other sportsbook in the US included odds.

The AAF made their betting intentions even clearer when they launched their mobile app that displays the most up-to-date odds for bettors to watch and take advantage of. Betting is front and center on the app, just to make the AAF intentions crystal clear.

Interestingly, 888Sport’s European site does offer odds, but not their US-facing side. As it currently stands, DraftKings is the only US-facing sportsbook that offers AAF odds. Odds will be offered for all of the week 3 games, as well as futures bets on the eventual AAF champion.

The Start of the Season

It’s entirely possible that most sportsbooks have stayed away from the AAF until they could start determining odds based on game performances instead of predictions based on preseason. Since the start of the season the Orlando Apollos have looked the strongest, and are currently the favorite to win the league.

The league started their first week with just over 2.9 million viewers, beating out the NBA game in the same timeslot on ABC. While that can be written off to the novelty of a new league starting, the continued ratings could lead to sustained success of the league.

Of course, the AAF suffered a rather public issue this past week when the owner of the Carolina Hurricanes NHL team had to float the league $250 million to make sure it stayed afloat longer than two weeks. AAF coach Steve Spurrier said on radio that the league’s original investor had backed out.

”He didn’t have it (the money), and we found Tom Dundon. I think he (Dundon) liked the idea so much , he became the majority owner (of the league) and now we’re all set to go for quite a while.”

Other than the sudden lack of money, the AAF has progressed better than most have expected. The quarterback play has been inconsistent at best, but even the NFL doesn’t have good QBs for every team. One or two odd situations will continue to appear, like , but the AAF looks to finish a strong year 1.