Betting Sites With Player Prop Injury Protection

Early injuries are the cruelest way to lose a bet. One awkward landing, one bad cut, and your ticket goes up in smoke before it even had a chance.

The good news? A handful of U.S. sportsbooks have started protecting bettors from these bad beats by adding injury insurance policies on player prop bets.

While Fanatics Sportsbook was the first to introduce their Fair Play policy back in 2024, DraftKings, FanDuel, bet365 and ESPNbet have recently added similar policies.

In this guide, we’ll break down exactly how each program works, what sports they cover, and which one will protect you best - based on your betting style.

While all 5 sportsbooks on this list will offer your player props protection from early game injuries, they are definitely not built the same.

Some offer coverage across multiple sports, others have longer windows where this rule applies, and some will refund you in bonus bets rather than cash.

Having reviewed the terms and conditions of each program, our experts have ranked the betting sites that offer injury protection below.

“Injury protection” is the industry’s term for a refund policy on player props. If the player you bet on exits the game early and doesn’t return, your bet doesn’t just die. Depending on the sportsbook, your stake might be refunded, or the leg in your parlay recalculated.

One of the best features sportsbooks have introduced in a long time, these rules soften the blow of bad beats where something that cannot be accounted for would torpedo your bet.

In practice, that means more fair results and a lot less frustration for bettors - but also some fine print to understand.

All five programs share the same backbone:

• ✅ Pre-game player props are covered.

• ✅ Both straight bets and player-prop legs inside parlays/SGPs can qualify.
  

• ❌ Live props and in-play bets are not covered.

• ❌ Futures and preseason games are excluded.

• ❌ If a player is inactive pre-game, normal sportsbook void rules apply (not injury protection).

Parlays are treated consistently: if your injured leg qualifies, it’s voided, and the rest of your ticket is recalculated at adjusted odds.

What sports you can get injury protection for your player props depends on the sportsbook you are using.

Out of all 35+ sportsbooks in the US, only 5 of them offer some sort of injury insurance. Of these 5, three books limit their coverage to NFL, while two extend this policy across multiple sports.

For bettors who wager year-round across multiple leagues, Fanatics and DraftKings are clear winners.

But if your action is almost entirely NFL, the narrower programs might be all you need, and other factors such as bonuses, betting features, odds, etc might be more important to you.

The timing window matters a lot - it decides whether you actually get your refund or not. Each sportsbook has its own cutoff for when a player has to leave the game for the insurance to kick in.

In general, injury protection applies to stat-based player prop markets. These vary by sport - and sportsbook - but here are the most common categories bettors can expect their bets to be refunded on in case of early injury:

When it comes to injury protection, not all sportsbooks are created equal. FanDuel, bet365, and ESPN BET have all made important strides by giving NFL bettors a safety net. DraftKings adopted the concept into multiple sports, making it a serious competitor in this space.

But the trailblazer - and still the leader - is Fanatics Sportsbook.

Here’s why Fanatics Fair Play stands out above the rest:

• Multi-sport coverage: Fanatics is the only sportsbook protecting you across NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, Soccer, Tennis, Golf, and more. If you bet year-round, that breadth matters.

• Generous injury windows: Whether it’s first-half coverage in the NFL, first-quarter NBA, or early-game rules in baseball, Fanatics consistently gives bettors more time and flexibility than rivals like FanDuel.

• Cash refunds: Unlike books that rely on Bonus Bets, Fanatics refunds your stake in cash. That’s money you can withdraw instantly or re-bet however you choose.

While DraftKings deserves credit for rolling out a strong multi-sport program of its own, and the NFL-only operators are providing real value during football season, no other sportsbook offers the same mix of coverage, fairness, and flexibility that Fanatics does.