Daily fantasy sports participation fell for the fourth straight week in the NFL’s Week 9, prompting DraftKings to reduce the guaranteed payout on next week’s marquee NFL contest.

According to data from DFS market analysts SuperLobby.com, both DraftKings and rival FanDuel were in positive territory in terms of Sunday’s NFL revenue, despite each operator seeing reductions in entry fees for guaranteed prize pools (GPP) in their NFL contests.

On the plus side, the pace of the decline – some of which has a seasonal precedent – has slowed, and both operators reported improved margins. FanDuel’s effective margin (which includes both GPP and cash games) rose from 7.5% in Week 8 to 10.8% this week. DraftKings (whose numbers refer to GPP only) saw its margins improve to 9.8% from 8.9% last week.

The improved margins were credited to both sites paying out less in prizes to their players. FanDuel’s ‘prizes out’ figure fell 4% week-to-week while DraftKings’ prizes out fell to $19m, its second consecutive week of paying out less than $20m and its lowest weekly payout this season. (Don’t expect to see either figure in the company’s marketing.)