Daily Fantasy Sports Sites

daily fantasy sports

Daily Fantasy sports are quick-paced games, based on the season-long fantasy contests that millions of participants play each year. In a season-long game, all the bettors pick rosters of players. This is particularly popular among football and NFL sports games.

Although very similar to the season-long contests, the daily fantasy sports are played for a single day or a maximum of one week. In this guide, we will discuss all the rules and regulations, and different websites that cater to daily fantasy sports.

What Is Daily Fantasy Sports?

In Daily Fantasy sports, the betting results are announced within a day or maximum in one week. You compile points based on those selected players’ statistics throughout a season. The winner is the person who drafts the team with the players with the best statistics.

While season-long fantasy sports are played among a group of friends/players or co-workers, DFS involves thousands of people betting on the sports all at once. And as you can guess, the money involved in daily Fantasy sports betting is huge, running into thousands, and millions of dollars.

The DFS industry is dominated by two major players, DLF and Fanduel who dominate 90%  of the market share.

Why Play the Daily Fantasy Sports?

Labeled as the next big thing on the internet, Daily Fantasy Sports is a fun and exciting game. The risk is less, winnings are consistent, and people win good money in this game. If you are an avid online gaming bettor, here are some reasons why you must play the DFS.

It’s an Exciting Game

There is something very thrilling and enjoyable about Daily Fantasy games. The adrenaline rush is unmatched in fast-paced result-oriented betting. The rules, bonuses, and line-ups change every week, keeping the excitement alive.

Legal

DFS betting is legal in the US, passed by the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act). This regulating body included specific provisions that exempted fantasy sports from the regulations. The operating site must possess a gaming license to operate.

Simply put, fantasy sports are considered a legal gambling sport by the US federal government. The daily contests rule is the same as that of season-long fantasy sports.

Winnings Are Good

Winning is always the number 1 reason why bettors love to place bets on Daily Fantasy Sports. There are some big money amounts for grabs, and people can end up winning huge amounts of money. Some people make a living by betting every day on DFS. It is estimated that the high-end players could be earning at least $10,000 a week. Though beginners will not be earning as much initially, slowly, as you get seasoned with the game, winnings could potentially increase.

Not Very Time-Consuming

Season-long fantasy sports are time-consuming and involve many day-to-day hassles.

With daily contests, you do not have to dedicate too much time to this. Drafting and picking a line-up can be completed in less than an hour as they are conducted simultaneously. This seems a breeze compared to a fantasy football draft for a season-long contest that might take four hours or more to complete.

Wide Variety of Games

Football and baseball are popular Fantasy sports games that are easily available at most fantasy sites. Basketball and hockey are also popular. Many sites offer contests for several other sports, too, including the following.

  • MMA
  • Soccer
  • Golf
  • NASCAR

DFS Improves Your Betting Skills

The experience that players gain while playing Daily Fantasy Sports will improve their betting skills. Having dug deep insights into players’ statistics, their teams, projections, and the line-up offered by the sportsbook, you will learn the intricacies of betting on sports.

Deposits and Withdrawals Are Easy

At Daily Fantasy Sports sites, the transfer of money is quick and easy. Since results are declared instantly, so money transfers are quick for fantasy sports. You can make payments through PayPal or credit/debit cards.

When you want to withdraw money, the DFS site will send back the money to your account in the form of a refund. You can later receive a check or a Paypal deposit.

DFS Makes Sports More Interesting

With money invested in games and real big money, the regular football and basketball game turns out interesting and fun. Once players put a stake into a game, it becomes more fun watching them and see the events unfold.

Why Can’t I Place a Bet in A State that Allows Daily Fantasy Sports?

While the federal government has deemed DFS as a legal gaming sport, some attorney generals in the US have considered it illegal under state law. The top 3 states where DFS is considered illegal include:

  • Washington
  • Iowa
  • Montana

Most sites also don’t operate DFS, including Hawaii, Alabama, Idaho, and Nevada, based on negative attorney general opinions in those states.

Pending DFS Legality

DFS is also legal and regulated now in

  • Arizona
  • New York
  • Massachusetts
  • Colorado
  • Indiana
  • Virginia
  • Missouri
  • Tennessee
  • Mississippi

Except for Mississippi, sites operating in these locations must pay a licensing fee. In 2015, Kansas also legalized DFS.

At the end of 2015 and the beginning of 2016, state legislatures in the U.S. started introducing bills for legalizing DFS. As a result, the above states have legalized DFS. The level of legalization varies from state to state, ranging from light regulations to strict bills that treat the DFS sits as regular gambling casinos.

The Difference Between Daily Fantasy Sports and Regular Fantasy Sports?

The main difference between daily fantasy sports and season-long fantasy sports is that bettors select players for a specific day (or week with regards to the NFL) in daily fantasy.

A salary cap is used for selecting players in place of the usual snake draft. Players do not have to bother about long-term sleepers or bad situations. The emphasis is on finding the highest production cost at the lowest cost and creating a perfectly complete squad.

What Kind of Daily Fantasy Sports Are There?

DraftKings and Fanduel offer the main DFS game, and there are several variations across different operating sites. In the prominent version of DFS, users will select a sport and a contest to enter. They also select a team of players under the salary cap specified by the site. Once the real game begins, the player waits to see how the game unfolds and how his team fares in the competition.

The game variants have one factor in common; they are based on the players’ statistics.  The daily Fantasy contests can be categorized into two specific types

  • Cash games
  • Tournaments

Cash Games

Two common forms of cash games include the 50/50 and heads to heads. In these contests, players have a 50% of winning. The players with a score in the top 50% league will be given equal payouts. If 10 players participate in the 50/50 contest, the top 5 players will be distributed the pool prize money. Here, we are not taking into account the skill level and the opponents’ skill into play. In a head-to-head contest, typically referred to as H2H, only two entrants are involved. The player with the higher score wins the game.

Tournaments

Tournaments involve a pool of players with the top scorers getting the prizes. For example, if there is a tournament involving 100 contestants, the top 15 will get a prize. The first place contestant will get the largest pool of money, going down in descending order among other finishers. Here the skill and the strategy of the player are more important than that of cash prize games.

The most popular North American team sports for DFS:

  • Baseball (MLB)
  • Hockey (NHL)
  • Football (NFL)
  • Basketball (NBA)

FanDuel, DraftKings, and other sites offer many other sports, such as:

  • Golf
  • NASCAR
  • Soccer
  • College football
  • College basketball
  • Mixed martial arts
  • Esports (like League of Legends)

And there are even more sports than that offered at some sites.

Frequently Asked Questions About DFS

What Is Your Premium Fantasy Sports Site for Your Gameplay?

There are two premium fantasy sports sites Fanduel and Draftkings, with football and basketball being the favorite Daily Fantasy Sports. Sites like  Yahoo Daily Fantasy and FantasyDraft are at No. 3, while sites like Draft, Draftboard, and Boom Fantasy have a minute slice of the DFS pie and offer DFS variants.

Can You Use the Best Daily Fantasy Sports Websites Outside of The United States?

Players can participate in DFS from outside of the US, although not from everywhere. For example, DraftKings allows users from the US, Canada, the UK, Germany, and others. If you live outside of the United States, we recommend checking directly with the DFS website you want to play for whether it serves your specific country.

What Is the Minimum Age Required to Participate in Dfs?

You must be 18 years or older to play DFS, although there are some exceptions for this. Nebraska and Alabama have set their age limit at 19,  while 21 is the limit for Iowa and Massachusetts.

What Is the Most Popular Daily Fantasy Sport?

Football is the most popular sport for DFS by a significant margin. Major League Baseball and the NBA are also prominent but have yet to reach the same heights as the NFL.

Can you play on more than one daily fantasy sports website?

Absolutely. You can sign up and play in DFS contests on any, and all of these websites.

What Is the Most Popular Daily Fantasy Sports?

Football is the most popular fantasy sport. About 36 percent of industry revenue is from the NFL,  followed by Major League Baseball with 19 percent, auto racing at 12 percent, and 10 percent with NBA.

Getting Started with Daily Fantasy Sports

Here are the steps involved in getting started with the DFS gameplay:

Step 1- Join a DFS website

Check online reviews and based on your judgment, join a website that offers DFS betting. The next step involves opening an account and registering with the website. You have to provide basic personal details. Select a username and password. Once you have made the deposit, you are ready to start playing.

Step 2- Make a deposit

A smooth deposit and transfer process is a big bonus for players and lures them to websites offering seamless transactions. In the United States, it is sometimes a hassle for players to get money into their accounts. It is not a problem at DFS sites, though. Most of the sites accept Paypal and major credit cards like Mastercard and Visa.

Players must look at the signup bonus offered by the site. It is a great incentive and it offers the players many free rounds of play or a match-up bonus, that varies across all sites.

Step 3- Enter a contest

Once you have signed up at a website, select a contest that you want to enter. The entry fee could vary from $1 to $10000. For beginners, we recommend playing at the lower buy-ins and slow graduate to the higher amounts. The more the buying, the greater will be the prize money.

Step 4- Draft your roster

It now time to form your team. You will be directed to a page that has a list of all the players. You can form your roster from among those players. Mostly, the websites are intuitive and quickly load so that the players do not have to wait for long.  You have to sort players based on position and cost, as these are both important factors to consider.

When drafting a team, there are requirements for certain positions to be filled.

 In a fantasy football contest, players need a quarterback, two running backs, and three wide receivers. Besides, players have to draft a defense and require a tight end and a kicker. If there is a flex or utility position, you can pick up an extra running back, wide receiver, or tight end. The exact position requirements are subject to the site being used and the relevant sport, and the rules prevailing at the site.

The gameplay has a salary cap so that players can spend only a certain amount on drafting players. Again, the size of the cap will depend on the site and the sport. For players to win, they have to get the best value for your “dollar” when drafting players.

Step 5- Awaiting results

Now, you have to sit and await the results of the DFS betting. Once the game is complete, you can log into your account and check the results of the game. The prize money will be automatically added to your account.

Difference Between Daily Fantasy Sports and Seasonal Fantasy Sports

Most Americans are familiar with the traditional Fantasy Sports leagues. And not just in the US, Fantasy sports are popular in the UK as well. And if haven’t played fantasy sports before, do not worry, as it is not a requirement for playing Daily Fantasy Sports. While the two sports are very similar, they also bear distinct differences.

The Prize Money

Season-long fantasy sports are played for bragging rights. It is not the case with daily fantasy sports. DFS is played for real money, so if you want to make profits by leveraging your sports knowledge, DFS is for you.

The prizes at DFS are given out speedily, and you do not have to wait for the entire season to receive your pol prize in DFS.

Time Commitment

The season-long time commitment for season fantasy games is huge. Players are engaged for days and months. In games like baseball, you have to place a roster every day.  With daily fantasy contests, the time invested is much less. Players have to draft their teams and thereafter login to check the results. The short period involved is a huge selling point for the popularity of DFS.

Rules of Drafting

In a season-long fantasy game, when you draft a player, no other party/bettor can draft him. In DFS, there is no restriction of this sort. Many parties draft the same player or the same pool of players. Sometimes, you may end up drafting the same team as your opponents.

In Daily fantasy contests, the salary cap is a must. Salary caps may or may not be imposed in season-long contests.

Social Factors

Season-long contests are held in someone’s home, restaurants, or commonplaces. Daily Fantasy Sports use only online drafts where players can play in complete privacy and secrecy.

Daily Fantasy Sports Strategy: Using Betting Odds & Lines

There is one unanimous piece of advice that is presented every time: “Use the Vegas betting lines and odds to determine the appropriate fantasy sports strategy.”

The reasoning is that no one is better at making projections and handicapping games than the sportsbooks in Las Vegas. So players can immensely benefit by tapping into that data.

However, how does one leverage those betting lines and odds when making betting decisions?

Let’s find out.

Betting Lines: How They Work

The three types of lines include:

  • Moneylines
  • Point spreads
  • Totals

Moneylines are for bets where the concern lies in who wins and not by how much they win. The higher the Moneyline is, the more likely it is that the favorite is going to win. The – always indicates the favorite, and + indicates the underdog. The number after the + or – is the number they have to win or lose for the bet to pay off.

Point spread is a tool used for bets to ascertain who wins and by how much. The book employs a Point Spread system to get action on both sides of a game. As a general rule, bettors wager $110 to win $100 on a point spread bet, but this can vary depending upon the book being used. Some books require bettors to wager $115 or $120; others may require $105, and so on. The objective remains the same, to beat the point spread to win a bet.

Also called over/under bets, in Total bets wager, it is seen whether or not the total points scored by both sides will be over or under the prediction of the book. It doesn’t matter which team wins or loses. The total score for both sides combined is checked upon.

What Is Value in Daily Fantasy Sports?

As we know, in daily fantasy sports, the salary cap limits your lineup. The most important way to look at a team’s performance is to look at the points versus salary. Value is a ratio of dollars per point. Players who score a lot of points relative to their salary win in the long run.

The Mobile Experience of Daily Fantasy Games

Daily Fantasy Sports have witnessed phenomenal growth in the last three years. Major sites like Monkey Knife, FanDuel, Yahoo DFS, Draft, and DraftKings offer an elevated mobile experience for daily fantasy sports.

Fanduel offers one of the best mobile app experiences to its users. The site underwent a complete redesign in April 2012 for a fast and more intuitive experience. Fanduel offers DFS across both iPhone and Android platforms and players can download the app for free in the respective app stores.

In December 2015, FanDuel introduced the newest version of both the iOS and Android apps that are now live to mobile users. The most notable feature is that the platform brings one-to-one and league creation to the mobile apps. Users are equipped with a multitude of fantasy sports facilities namely; editing their lineups and individual player selections, tracking and monitoring live scores. Besides, the mobile app offers seamless withdrawal and deposit of funds.

Fanduel’s crash rate is well below the industry standards and the site offers 24/7 assistance in the case of technical glitches.  The interface is sleek and precise creating an engaging, reliable, and secure product FanDuel’s 5M+ users love to use.

The Yahoo Sports Fantasy mobile app offers an exemplary fantasy sports experience. Launched in 2015, you can manage your Daily Fantasy contests and line-ups from the Yahoo Sports fantasy app.

The Daily Fantasy games are added to the existing Yahoo Fantasy Sports app so players can smoothly switch between other online sports and daily fantasy contests. You can access all kinds of games namely football, basketball, or baseball, on Yahoo’s fantasy app. One outstanding feature of the Yahoo Fantasy app is the push notifications alert.

At the Draftkings mobile app, enjoy playing for fun or real money. The mobile-design of the app is one of the most advanced apps in the DFS industry. DraftKings was the first DFS company to offer a mobile offering, and till-date remains the best-in-class.

DraftKings’ created an intuitive design and speedy interface product to set lineups and make quick changes, which is critical to success. It gives people access to games in the way they want to play them. The DraftKings mobile app is available across all platforms and technologies. The plus here is that the app has a customized creative design creating different views specific to each device for an optimized user experience. The DraftKings app is available on both IOS and Android devices.

SideLeague Daily Fantasy Sports app makes contests and betting a smooth and easy experience. There is no salary cap, single entry, and only 25 participants per contest. Enjoy a fun-filled playing time at SideLeague.

At the Draft mobile app, play versus friends or opponents in head-to-head snake drafts. Available on both iOS and Android, the Draft app is one of the top rankings sports apps.

Here are a few of the DFS industry’s biggest milestones to date:

  • October 13, 2006 – The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was signed into law. While the bill crippled the online poker industry, it contained explicit language that legalized daily fantasy sports.
  • June 22, 2007 – Fantasy Sports Live launched, becoming the earliest major DFS gaming site.
  • November 10, 2014 – DraftKings became an official partner of the NHL.
  • November 12, 2014 – FanDuel became an official partner of the NBA.
  • December 14, 2014 – Scott “Escot4” Hanson became the first multi-millionaire from a one-day fantasy event after winning the $2 million grand prize at the FanDuel 2014 FFFC.
  • February 25, 2015 – DraftKings became an official partner of UFC.

Current DFS News Roundup

 DraftKings is set to become an XFL’s Official Daily Fantasy Sports Partner and the league’s Authorised Gaming Operator, which has announced its new partnership with XFL. DraftKings players will now participate in the gaming season of the new professional football league including the regular season and postseason of the XFL. The eight-team XFL season will witness customers in licensed states placing several bets and draught daily fantasy lineups. DraftKings will incorporate XFL signs, logos, and player images into its online portal and marketing campaigns.

BetConstruct, SoftConstruct (Malta) Ltd. will now provide UK partners with fantasy sports betting apps under its UKGC Combined Remote Operating License. BetConstruct aims to offer a superior user experience and has created a customized feature-rich product for 5 sports styles and 20+ soccer leagues with precise fantasy resources.

Best DFS Sites

DFS has become very popular with sports enthusiasts as they can play the game they love. The best DFS sites offer an extraordinary gaming experience where players can enjoy safe and secure gameplay in complete privacy.

DraftKings

Boston-based DraftKings is the leader in DFS games. DraftKings has a worldwide reputation of being the best operator in the industry offering a wide palette of freerolls, bonuses, and phenomenal guaranteed prize pools. Also, the mobile app of DraftKings is one of the best across all DFS sites.

DraftKings offers a wide variety of contest selection options. It has traditional tournaments, 50/50s, multipliers, head to heads, and satellite qualifiers to major events like its Fantasy World Championships. Whether a player wants to place small bets or a huge amount for professional play or is interested in the NFL vs League of Legends, there is something for every level of players.

Another interesting feature is the Late-Swap. With Late swaps, Instead of locking lineups at the start of the day, Late-Swap allows for last-minute modifications. If your favorite WR scratches on Monday Night Football, sub them out and pick someone new. A player isn’t locked until their game starts.

DraftKings gives importance to its regular players by rewarding them. Their ‘Crowns’ FPP is earned by players on completing missions by claiming daily rewards, paid contests or being awarded badges. Players can redeem the Crowns for entry into paid contests, or spent on DK shopping merchandise.

Players can create a new DraftKings account and get started by making a real money deposit (min. $5). You will then qualify for your deposit match bonus of up to $500 that will be awarded to your DraftKings account.

 The daily fantasy games at DraftKings includes MLB, NBA, NFL, and NHL, also, basketball, soccer, golf, and college football. DraftKings has more niche offerings including tennis, Euro League basketball,  mixed martial arts, NASCAR, Canadian Football League, and E-Sports League of Legends.

The daily contest offerings at Draftkings are bigger and better than their competitor Fanduel. The options are also much more. Just like their name, Draftkings is indeed set to offer its participants a ‘Kingly’ experience.

Fanduel

Fanduel has one of the largest user bases in the DFS industry. A customer-friendly Daily Fantasy Sports games site, it has a variety of game formats and amazing pool prizes. The simple and easy-to-use interface of the Fanduel site ensures that the players get accustomed to the website and get on with the game at the earliest.

At Fanduel, no promo code is necessary for availing of the bonus. Once you have created your FanDuel account and made a real money deposit, you’ll be eligible to earn your deposit bonus of up to $500. FanDuel offers games for all 4 major daily fantasy sports NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL. Moreover, PGA contests and College Basketball contests are also available. For game types, Cash game formats include head-to-heads, quadruple-ups, 50/the 50s, triple-ups, and more. At Fanduel, players can also create private games that they can play with close friends for some hard cash.

The Fanduel lobby for contest selection and lineup is very easy and simple to understand. Customer support is in the form of phone calls, live chat, and email responses. FanDuel is regarded as one of the most Daily Sports sites owing to the amazing lineup of tournaments, promotions, and special events. Here are just a few of the awesome events that have taken place recently, or are still to come at FanDuel.

Daily fantasy football is by far the most popular sport at all daily sites, and the end-of-season tournament, the World Fantasy Football Championship (WFFC) being the coveted championship. The prizes offered in this championship range from a whopping $2 million grand prize to a private jet ride home, as well as a three-day weekend in Vegas. The finalists also receive amazing prizes.

Monkey Knife Fight

If you like to play variations of the DFS games, Monkey Knife Fight has a lot to offer you. At Monkey Knife Fight, players do not compete against players, they compete against the house. There are incredible fun prop bets that players can sit and play in complete privacy and secrecy. No lineups and salaries to select from. Just pick your game, select your props, and the amount you want to play for, get started.

Players can sign up at the site, make their first deposit, and use Monkey Knife Fight promo code GRINDERS for a 100% deposit match bonus up to $50! So if you deposit $50, you will receive $50 free.

Monkey Knife Fight offers unique prop games of daily fantasy sports variations where players do not need to compete against top players for winning the prop bets. MKF offers several props picks from games across the NFL, PGA, NASCAR, NBA, NHL,  and eSports leagues. The Monkey Knife Fight is a new online DFS prop platform that new-age players like to indulge in. Ever since sports betting became legal in the US – daily fantasy sports players have wondered whether they will see DFS-sports prop hybrid games or platforms. Monkey Knife Fight is just the right answer, the first of its kind.

MKF accepts only debit cards and credit cards, PayPal is not accepted. It is a legit site, regulated in the 36 states of the US. Players can feel safe playing on this hybrid prop DFS platform.

PrizePicks

PrizePicks is the perfect way to enjoy DFS games when you are in no mood for a serious game of betting sports. Or when are good at identifying whether a player will get over or under a certain set of points, PrizePicks is your calling. With this skill, you can easily double your money at PrizePicks on the guys you’ve identified as the best plays. PrizePicks contests are move at a speedy pace so they are not time-taking. They are the best option especially if you don’t have the time or inclination to research a full lineup.

The PrizePicks platform is centered around props. There are certain variations to the traditional stats like yards or touchdowns to set a line. PrizePicks uses fantasy points and there’s only one game type available. In this gameplay, users select at least two over/under for players on two separate teams. They can select a side on up to four over/under – the more picks involved, the more are the player’s chances of winning. Getting a 2 for 2 will square a 2.5x payout, while 3 for 3 awards 5x, and a perfect 4/4 nets 10x. In case you miss just one of your selections, you are entitled to receive a refund.

PrizePicks DFS play can be accessed via a browser and a convenient mobile app. Deposits and withdrawals are quick, easy, and user-friendly.

StatHero

StatHero is where players witness an exotic blend of a DFS lineup building and survivor pool strategy. You can build a team to stand against a pre-built StatHero team. The winners move on and keep earning prizes along the path that leads to the grand prize for the last team that survives.

One of the best attributes of the DFS site is that players don’t have to beat every single lineup to move onto the next round. They have to win against the StatHero’s team to move ahead. Also, rather than being a full season in length (as many survivor pools are), StatHero pools are typically 9 days or less in length, meaning you can always find a new pool to join each slate.

The mobile app is available for Apple devices and will soon be available for Android users.

Yahoo

Yahoo is now one of the largest sites to enter the daily fantasy sports space, while still being a favorite with season-long players. It offers contests in the four main US sports, NFL, NBA, MLB, and the NHL. Yahoo offers amazing prize pools, 50/50, and head-to-head options for users to choose from. Yahoo DFS offers a scoring setting and roster composition that closely resembles that of both DraftKings and FanDuel.

As for features, Yahoo has a fantastic interface that allows for smooth switching between DFS and season-long competitions. Creating lineups is easy too. They can be created directly within the interface, or imported. Yahoo also gives the ability to late-swap players at any time before their game starts. It’s easy to fund a Yahoo account with both PayPal and credit cards available.

A mobile app is now out for both iOS and Android users as is as smooth as the desktop application.

Final Thoughts

DFS games are fast-paced games that deliver quick results. They are a great alternative to the traditional season-long fantasy games and other serious betting sports where players can put a lot of money at stake. DraftKings and Fanduel are the two authority DFS sites with many more sites offering different variations and props in DFS games. With the pace at which these games are gaining popularity, they are all set to change the landscape of online gaming sports.

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About Joe Kizlauskas

Joe is a seasoned iGaming copywriter and speaker who has been in the business since 2015. He's written more words on all elements of Casinos, Slots, Bingo & Sports Betting than he likes to remember, and he's contributed material to a number of well-known brands. Joe may be seen playing 5 a side, at the gym or playing games on his Playstation when he is not writing.