Real-time support for real-time sports: How Underdog uses AI to scale player experience

Underdog Fantasy is one of the fastest-growing names in fantasy sports, offering a mix of daily drafts, pick'em games, and new formats that bring fans closer to the action. With real money on the line, emotions running high, and outcomes that shift in seconds, support plays a critical role in the overall player experience.

“We’re the middleman between real-time game chaos and customer clarity,” says Andre Gamboa, Director of Customer Support. “If a player gets injured or a withdrawal is delayed, support is where customers turn first and they expect instant answers.”

As Underdog scaled and player volume surged, their existing model became unsustainable. On big game weekends, support could spike by more than 7,000 conversations in just 48 hours, leaving agents scrambling to keep up. To stay ahead, the team needed more than faster workflows. They needed a new way of working.

This led them to Fin AI Agent. Today, Fin deflects nearly 80% of peak-volume queries instantly, while still ensuring the team has real-time control during live events and regulatory guardrails are met every time. While bringing AI onboard might have started as a way to solve a support challenge, it’s quickly become a strategic advantage that helps Underdog deliver fast, consistent, and trusted experiences at scale.

For Underdog Fantasy, support is core to the player experience. Every day, thousands of players place real money entries on live sporting events, like NFL Sundays and NBA slates. When something unexpected happens, like a star player getting injured mid-game, a payout looking like it might be delayed, or a rule not being clear, players don’t wait. They write in, fast.

“What makes us unique is the speed customers need answers,” says Andre. “A lot of things are happening in real time, and customers need to know what’s going to happen to their entry instantly.”

On a peak-volume weekend, Underdog might receive thousands of inquiries – many with similar questions, triggered by the same real-time game moment. Without automation, agents had to handle each ticket one by one: checking rules, recalculating odds, and trying to keep up as the backlog grew.

And because Underdog operates in a regulated fantasy-sports business, volume was only part of the pressure. Every support interaction had to be handled with care. Agents needed to follow strict internal guidelines, whether they were dealing with payment issues, identity verification, or signs of problem gaming. “Everything was manual. As volume went up, we had to onboard more agents and train them one by one – and make sure they were complying with everything,” explains Andre.

It became clear they needed a new system that could help them scale with confidence to match the pace of live action sport events, while staying fully compliant.

In 2023, Underdog made the decision to implement Intercom Suite, switching from Zendesk. “We were really limited on Zendesk,” says Andre. “Workflow-wise, automation-wise, even just getting support from their team. We’d write in and it would be weeks before we heard back.”

Intercom gave them flexibility from day one. The team could finally build tailored workflows for different customer segments, test new logic, and adapt quickly when things changed. “Zendesk limited us to 1,000 steps in a workflow, whereas Intercom had unlimited steps. That let us curate our customer experience based on who the customer is,” says Andre.

When Fin launched, that flexibility went even further. The team could customize how Fin responds based on context and type of customer, and update it instantly as the game changed. “We can go into Fin and update the guidance within minutes and it starts responding right away,” says Andre.

That level of customization was especially important for a business that has to meet strict compliance standards. “From a regulation standpoint, there are certain words that we can't use in our industry” says Andre. “Fin’s customization options gave us full control, and it now complies every single time, consistently, with the regulations that we’re facing.”

Game-day spikes that once overwhelmed the team are now absorbed immediately. Fin resolves tickets at twice the rate of Underdog’s previous automated workflows, handling high-volume queries with greater speed, accuracy, and context. “Fin recalculates odds, payouts, and complex formulas automatically. That blew our minds – it’s the dream scenario we never thought was possible,” shares Andre.

The power of this can’t be overstated. During a recent “outcome-friendly” weekend, thousands of players won their entries, triggering a flood of withdrawal questions. “We got probably 7,000 contacts within two days, just from people asking where their money is and what’s the status of their withdrawal,” Andre explains. “Fin was able to pull up the customer’s profile, check their recent withdrawals, and give a personalized update with an 80% deflection rate. That alone saved us tons and tons of time.”

For Underdog, Fin is becoming a core part of the player experience. The team is already exploring ways to connect Fin directly to their backend systems, enabling it to take action on withdrawals, apply promotions, and provide helpful information about the players a customer uses most often. “We don’t see Fin as just deflecting volumes,” says Andre. “It’s guiding the customer through their journey, from when they’re placing entries to when they need help after.”

Looking ahead, Andre sees AI becoming a critical part of every customer touchpoint across the entire experience. “AI is going to be able to understand the customer better than any human really will,” he says. “And through that, you’re going to have the most curated experiences you can possibly have.”