Day By Day Dream Sports
Since 2007, there have been daily fantasy sports, a variation on conventional season-long fantasy sports competitions. In the past two years since US sports betting became legal, many people have only recently heard of and learned about daily fantasy sports (DFS). What exactly is DFS and what do you need to know about it?
Fact sheets and welcome bonuses for DFS and sports websites
• DraftKings coupon
FanDuel discount code
Daily fantasy sports (DFS) – what are they?
In essence, daily fantasy sports is not a difficult concept to understand. Tens of millions of people participate in season-long fantasy games every year, particularly for football and the NFL season. These games provide inspiration for our game. You and a group of other people choose player rosters in season-long fantasy. Based on the stats of those chosen players throughout the course of a season, you tally points. The person who selects the squad of players with the best statistics is the winner.
In its most basic form, DFS is similar to other season-long competitions but is limited to a single day or week. In DFS competitions for the NFL, you select a squad of players for just a day or a single week rather than selecting a team for the entire season.
Season-long fantasy, which is frequently played with friends or colleagues (or occasionally against strangers on some free and paid-entry fantasy sites), is typically only available to a small group of 12 or fewer players. However, you can be competing against hundreds of thousands of other players in DFS.
The amount of money involved is another significant distinction between season-long and DFS. While season-long is frequently a social game with modest prize pools, players in daily fantasy sports can compete for hundreds, and perhaps millions, of dollars.
Currently, DraftKings and FanDuel own more than 90% of the market share in the daily fantasy sports (DFS) sector. Through the beginning of 2015, FanDuel was the undisputed leader in the daily fantasy sports (DFS) market, but DraftKings has since eclipsed it.
Beyond that, pretty much everyone else is fighting for a smaller piece of the DFS pie, with smaller sites like Draft, Draftboard, and Boom Fantasy offering DFS variants, while Yahoo Daily Fantasy and FantasyDraft are vying for third place.
Different DFC
DraftKings and FanDuel offer the primary DFS format, with versions offered by other operators.
Users choose a sport and a competition to enter in the form of DFS that is most popular. Then users choose a team of players within the parameters of the site’s “salary cap.” Users must create a roster of players who are under the salary cap (each player is given a phony value in terms of dollars).
After choosing a team, a user simply needs to wait for the actual games to start and observe how their team performs against the opposition. You receive cash if your squad succeeds.
Contests can range greatly in terms of entry fees (free or 25 cents, up to $10,000), as well as in terms of how they are set up. Examples comprise:
• Guaranteed prize pools (GPPs): Players pay a specified entrance fee to participate in a competition for a portion of a preset prize pool; GPPs operate whether or not they are filled.
• “Cash games”: Participants can join an existing league or start their own league and award rewards to the top fantasy teams. These GPPs are smaller and less certain to run.
• Head-to-Head: A competition in which two players face off against each other; the winner takes home the entire prize fund.
• 50/50: The top half of the field almost doubles their investment, while the bottom half receives nothing.
The DraftKings/FanDuel model isn’t the only DFS variation; there are a number of others as well, all of which are based on player data. There are variations of fantasy sports where players are chosen without having a “salary” linked to them; versions where you try to anticipate how well a particular player or players will perform; and even in-game fantasy, when scoring and decisions are made in real time.
Parlay and fantasy sports prediction
A new class of fantasy products has emerged in addition to the salary-cap model that focuses on projecting individual player performance rather than selecting a complete team.
Sports available for daily fantasy
The most popular team sports in North America for DFS are:
• Soccer (NFL)
1. Basketball (NBA)
1. Baseball (MLB)
1. Hockey (NHL)
Many other sports are available on FanDuel, DraftKings, and other websites, including:
• NCAA football
• University basketball
• Golf
• NASCAR
• Soccer
Martial arts, mixed
2. Esports (like League of Legends)
And some websites provide even more sports than that.
Some states have laws that prohibit competitions based on amateur and/or high school, college, and/or youth sports.
Fantasy basketball every day
Daily fantasy basketball has grown significantly in popularity recently, although daily fantasy football has traditionally been the dominant DFS sport.
The fantasy format for the NBA is similar to that of the NFL. You choose the players who will be on your fantasy roster from actual NBA teams (s). Then, as a result of their efforts, the participants receive fantasy points (based on scoring, assists, steals, blocks, etc.)
Because contests are held every night throughout the season, DraftKings and FanDuel are expected to award bigger prizes than they do for NFL games.
The legality of daily fantasy sports
The main problem right now in the US is whether daily fantasy sports are legal or not. It’s challenging to provide an answer to the question “Is DFS legal?,” as it typically depends on the state in question.
DFS is regarded as a gambling product and necessitates a gaming license to function in the majority of governments across the world. The legality of DFS can be a bit hazy in the US.
Taking a brief detour first: The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 led to the growth of the entire sector. A carveout in that federal statute particularly deals with the processing of payments for internet gambling, but it excludes fantasy sports.
However, a lot of people, including the UIGEA’s creator, are of the opinion that DFS was not the intended target of the legislation. That is in addition to the notion that, in this case, state law supersedes federal law in establishing what constitutes gambling and what does not.
Several attorneys general have stated that DFS violates state gambling laws, and this has caused problems in a number of states, including Texas and Illinois, to mention a couple. Additionally, there are a number of other states where DFS is thought to be acting illegally by some legal experts, in addition to those states with negative AG opinions.
All of this has resulted in a murky situation about the legality of DFS, which has prompted numerous pieces of legislation. Several states have passed DFS laws as of late, from 2016 to the present.
States that permit and prohibit DFS
Also difficult to answer is the query of which states permit DFS. At the highest level, DFS has always been regarded as illegal in the following four states:
• Iowa
• Washington
• Montana
Due to unfavorable views expressed by the attorneys general in Alabama, Idaho, Hawaii, and Nevada, the majority of websites also don’t operate in those states.
Around 80% of states have access to the largest daily fantasy sports websites, such as DraftKings and FanDuel. Based on a more restrictive interpretation of state law, still others operate in significantly fewer states than that.
Additionally, DFS is currently permitted and governed in a number of states, including New York, Indiana, Virginia, Massachusetts, Colorado, Missouri, Tennessee, and Mississippi. Sites operating in specified states need to pay a licensing fee (except for Mississippi). DFS was also made allowed in Kansas in 2015. And in 2021, Arizona legalized DFS.
Although the states in which DFS sites are located are continually changing, you can get a sense of how things stand right now by reading the following: What sites offer daily fantasy sports?
Draft DFS legislation
State legislatures around the United States began introducing proposals to legalize and regulate DFS at the end of 2015 and the beginning of 2016.
Some of them were successful, like the statutes described above.
States are approaching the regulation of the DFS industry in a variety of ways, from simple, relatively “light” regulation to legislation that would treat the sector similarly to the casino or online gambling industries.
Although state legislative initiatives are continuously changing, you may follow all currently active (and dormant) legislation here and keep an eye on the political climate in many states.
The union of FanDuel and DraftKings
It was anticipated that DraftKings and FanDuel might combine in 2017. The news was released in November 2016 by the two biggest DFS providers.
But in the summer of 2017, the merger was abandoned. This occurred as a result of the US government’s antitrust law challenge to the merger.
The two websites still operate and welcome users individually at this time.
Questions and answers about DFS
The following inquiries and responses about the DFS sector are not covered above:
What is the financial value of daily fantasy sports?
According to estimates, the DFS sector collected more than $3 billion in entry fees overall in 2016. Due to those fees, $250 million in income was produced, with DraftKings and FanDuel accounting for more than 90% of it.
Does DFS only involve sports betting?
Depending on who you ask, yes. While some people view sports betting as a game of skill, almost everyone views it as a type of gambling.
DFS is viewed in a variety of ways, from being wholly legal to play as a game of skill to being merely a kind of gambling based solely on player data. Most people view it as a type of skill-based gambling on a casual level.
DFS sites are typically excluded from the definition of US betting sites in the United States.
What do governing bodies of professional sports leagues think of DFS?
Three professional leagues in North America have equity investments in a DFS platform and have backed the sector (and its regulation):
• NBA (FanDuel)
• MLB (DraftKings)
• NHL (DraftKings)
Although neither site directly interacts with the NFL, most of its franchises have agreements with one or the other. Here is a breakdown of the connections between the leagues and professional franchises.
What other DFS companies exist besides DraftKings and FanDuel?
There are numerous DFS providers available. Among the more popular ones are Yahoo, FantasyDraft, and Draft. Here is further information about a few of the secondary DFS providers.