Online sports betting has two names that come up more than any others. In the United States, that name is DraftKings. Internationally, it is Bet365. Both platforms earned their positions through years of product development, regulatory work, and marketing investment. Both continue to serve millions of players.
But in 2026, a question is being asked with increasing frequency by a specific and growing segment of those players: why am I still converting crypto to use a platform that was not built for me?
ZunaBet launched this year with a direct answer to that question. Crypto-first infrastructure, over 11,000 games, a fully integrated sportsbook covering everything from football to esports, and a loyalty programme built around transparent rakeback rather than opaque points. It is not chasing DraftKings in the US or Bet365 in the UK. It is building a different lane — and filling it.
Here is how all three platforms look when you examine them honestly.
Part One: DraftKings
How It Was Built
DraftKings is one of the great opportunistic success stories in modern gambling. The platform started in daily fantasy sports, built an engaged and financially active user base, and was perfectly positioned when US states began legalising sports betting following the 2018 Supreme Court ruling. It moved into new markets faster than most competitors, spent aggressively on customer acquisition, and built a mobile product that matched how American sports fans wanted to interact with betting.
The result is a platform that dominates in the US market. The sportsbook covers NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL in comprehensive depth, with soccer, golf, tennis, and international markets added alongside. In-play betting is polished. The app is one of the most downloaded in its category.
The Casino Side
DraftKings has built out a casino product across licensed states — slots, live dealer tables, and RNG games that have expanded steadily since the sportsbook foundation was established. For US players in states where both products are licensed, it is a genuine dual offering.
Where It Falls Short
Crypto support at DraftKings exists but is limited. Some states support cryptocurrency transactions but the payment infrastructure is fundamentally fiat-first with crypto added in select markets. It is not a crypto platform. The Dynasty Rewards loyalty programme operates on tiered points — Dynasty Dollars earned through wagering, redeemable for site credits. The structure exists but the actual return rate is not plainly communicated. Calculating what loyalty is genuinely worth takes effort, and many players simply do not bother.
Part Two: Bet365
How It Was Built
Bet365 was founded in 2000 in the UK and has spent the past 25 years doing one thing: building the most comprehensive international online sportsbook available. It holds licences across the UK, Malta, Gibraltar, Australia, and dozens of other regulated jurisdictions. The scale of the operation — in terms of markets covered, sports included, and jurisdictions licenced — is among the largest of any operator in the industry.
The Sportsbook
This is Bet365 at its best and most distinctive. Football coverage is the benchmark: market depth, in-play quality, and live streaming across competitions from the top European leagues down to lower division matches around the world. Tennis, cricket, basketball, American sports, golf, and horse racing are all covered comprehensively. For an international sports bettor in a market where Bet365 is licenced, it is the standard against which everything else is measured.
The Casino and Payments
The casino covers the basics — slots, live dealer content, RNG table games. It works without being the focus. Crypto is entirely absent from the payment stack. Cards, bank transfers, and e-wallets are the options. The loyalty programme is a points system that has operated in broadly the same form for years, rewarding wagering with redeemable credits without clearly stating the underlying return rate.
The Honest Assessment
Bet365 is the right platform for the international sports bettor it was built for. For players outside that profile — specifically those who use cryptocurrency and want more from a loyalty programme — it has not moved to accommodate them.
Part Three: The Gap
Reading those two descriptions, the pattern is clear.
Neither DraftKings nor Bet365 has built genuine crypto-first infrastructure. DraftKings has partial support in some markets; Bet365 has none. In 2026 this matters more than it did even two years ago. Crypto ownership has moved into mainstream financial behaviour. Players who hold and use Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT, Solana, or other currencies routinely face a choice when using either platform: convert to fiat, absorb fees, and engage with traditional banking — or look for something else.
Neither platform offers a loyalty system that plainly states what a player is earning back. Both use points models where the real return rate is buried in mechanics that require calculation to understand. Players who have encountered rakeback-based systems find it difficult to go back to a model that asks them to trust a number they cannot easily verify.
These are not small inconveniences. They are structural limitations that define who each platform was built for — and who it was not.
Part Four: ZunaBet
ZunaBet launched in 2026 under Strathvale Group Ltd with an Anjouan gaming licence. The team behind it carries over 20 years of combined industry experience. It was not built to compete directly with DraftKings in licensed US states or with Bet365 across its regulated European and international markets. It was built for the player those platforms leave underserved.
Crypto Built In From the Start
Over 20 cryptocurrencies are supported — Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT across multiple chains, Solana, Dogecoin, Cardano, XRP, and others. No platform processing fees. Fast withdrawals. ZunaBet’s payment infrastructure is not a fiat system with crypto added. It is a crypto system, designed as such from the beginning. For players who have been jumping through hoops to use fiat-only platforms, this is not a feature — it is the whole point.
11,000 Games, 63 Providers
The game library is one of the largest available at any crypto-focused platform and competes with traditional operators on volume. Over 11,000 titles from more than 63 providers including Pragmatic Play, Hacksaw Gaming, Evolution, Yggdrasil, and BGaming. Slots make up the majority, with live dealer games and RNG table games both well covered. For a platform that launched in 2026, the content depth is one of its most immediately impressive qualities.
One Platform for Everything
The sportsbook at ZunaBet is not a secondary product or a linked companion. It is built into the platform alongside the casino. Football, basketball, tennis, and NHL sit alongside esports markets for CS2, Dota 2, League of Legends, and Valorant. Virtual sports and combat sports are included. Players who move between casino and sports betting do so within a single unified experience.
Technology and Support
Dedicated apps for iOS, Android, Windows, and MacOS. Dark-themed HTML5 interface built for fast loading across all devices. 24/7 live chat support available at all times.
The Welcome Package: $5,000 and 75 Free Spins
ZunaBet’s welcome offer is structured across three deposits. First deposit: 100% match up to $2,000 plus 25 free spins. Second deposit: 50% match up to $1,500 plus 25 spins. Third deposit: 100% match up to $1,500 plus 25 spins. Total value: up to $5,000 and 75 free spins.
Spreading the offer across three deposits rather than concentrating it in one means the value extends across a player’s opening sessions. It is designed to build engagement over time rather than deliver a single front-loaded amount that disappears quickly.
The Loyalty System: Rakeback vs Everything Else
The comparison between ZunaBet’s loyalty programme and those of DraftKings and Bet365 is the most direct illustration of the gap between old and new platform design.
DraftKings offers Dynasty Dollars. Bet365 offers points. Both require players to trust that the system is returning fair value without showing them the rate plainly. Both have worked well enough for years because there was no widely available alternative that did it differently.
ZunaBet’s dragon evolution system does it differently. Six tiers — Squire, Warden, Champion, Divine, Knight, and Ultimate — each with a stated rakeback percentage. Squire earns 1% of losses back. Ultimate earns 20%. No conversion required. No calculation. The number is there and it is what it says.
Alongside rakeback, each tier adds free spins up to 1,000, VIP club access, double wheel spins, and a gamified identity built around a mascot called Zuno that gives the whole system a consistent character.
The headline is 20% rakeback at the top tier. For a regular player that means one dollar returned for every five lost, on an ongoing basis, with full transparency about the rate. That is a financial relationship with the platform that points programmes at traditional operators have never offered — and that, once experienced, is difficult to give up.
The Summary
DraftKings built the right product for the American sports betting market and executed the expansion brilliantly. It deserves its position.
Bet365 built the most comprehensive international sportsbook available and sustained it across 25 years of operation. It deserves its reputation.
ZunaBet built for the player neither of them ever prioritised — the crypto user, the player who wants loyalty they can actually measure, the person who expects casino and sportsbook to live together without friction. It launched in 2026 with all of those things in place.
The audiences are different. The needs are different. And for the growing segment of players whose needs align with what ZunaBet offers, the choice in 2026 is clearer than it has ever been.
