Everything else on the block list is about attention: a feed, a match timer, a countdown that wants a few more minutes of your day. DraftKings is real-money sports betting and daily fantasy sports, which puts it in a different category entirely. If checking odds, placing bets, or chasing losses has become a genuine problem rather than an occasional distraction, the right first move isn't an app blocker — it's DraftKings' own Responsible Gaming tools (deposit limits, cool-off periods, and full self-exclusion, available in the app's settings) or a direct call to the National Problem Gambling Helpline at 1-800-GAMBLER. Mr. Grummel is built for the second category below: everyday overuse, not a gambling problem that needs professional support. Please use the resources above first if that's where you are.
What actually makes DraftKings hard to close
Live, in-game betting means odds update continuously while a game is being played, which creates a much higher-frequency version of the checking habit than a single pre-game bet ever would — there's always a new number on the screen that might be worth acting on before it changes again. Same-game parlays and "cash out" options introduce constant small decisions mid-event, each one framed as protecting a potential win or chasing a bigger one, which keeps attention locked to the app for the length of an entire game rather than one moment of placing a bet. Odds-boost and bonus-bet notifications arrive on their own schedule, similar to Wish's price-drop alerts, except tied to real money rather than a discount on a physical item — which changes the weight of the notification considerably.
The built-in iPhone route, and where it gives way
An iOS Screen Time App Limit on DraftKings behaves like it does on any app: a warning, a lock screen, one "Ignore Limit for Today" button that clears it in a tap, needing only a Screen Time passcode you set and know yourself. A time-based limit says nothing about money at all, and a live game with a bet already placed is about as strong a pull toward tapping through a limit as this entire list produces — the specific risk here was never really about minutes.
The built-in Android route, and where it gives way
Digital Wellbeing's App Timer greys out DraftKings' icon at your limit and offers more time the moment you tap it, adjustable or removable from Settings whenever you like. Same gap as iPhone: it manages screen time, not spending, and the two aren't the same thing here.
What changes when the toll is three questions
Mr. Grummel's toll costs the same few minutes of real thought whether a game is about to start or already live — that's genuinely useful friction against reflexive, casual checking: opening the app between meetings out of habit, placing a small bet without really weighing it, refreshing odds during a game you're only half watching. It is not a substitute for the tools built specifically for problem gambling, and it won't hold up against a genuine compulsion the way self-exclusion or professional support can. Used honestly, it's a speed bump for casual overuse — not a treatment, and not a wall.
A realistic day
Right now: checking in on one game turns into placing a same-game parlay, then checking the live odds every few minutes for the rest of the match, each check individually reasonable and the whole afternoon gone by the final whistle. With the toll in place, for everyday overuse: opening DraftKings runs into three questions first. A bet you'd genuinely planned to place still gets placed. What's interrupted is the reflexive mid-game refreshing that turns watching a game into monitoring one, which now costs a few minutes of real thinking before each open. And if none of this describes casual overuse — if it's further than that — the helpline and DraftKings' own self-exclusion tools are the right next step, not an app blocker.