Reasons to Play Daily Fantasy Sports, in Numbers

The “next big thing” in online gambling has been dubbed daily fantasy sports. The popularity of daily fantasy sports competitions is currently exploding, much like the popularity of poker did a few years ago. This is something you definitely don’t want to miss, in our opinion.

There are many benefits to experimenting with daily fantasy sports betting. It has a number of benefits over conventional season-long fantasy sports and even over other well-liked gambling options. You may consistently win money by playing daily fantasy sports, and it doesn’t take much time to do so. Additionally, money deposits and withdrawals are simple and entirely legal. There is essentially no drawback at all.

Since this hobby involves gambling, you should avoid it if you have a gambling problem, but if not, you should think about starting right away. Since many of the websites that host these daily fantasy sports competitions include a money-back guarantee, there is little initial risk involved. They’ll reimburse your money if you participate in a contest and later decide you don’t like it.

If you’ve come to this page, you probably already have at least some interest in daily fantasy sports betting, but if you’re not sure if it’s right for you, read on. We go into great detail about the top ten benefits of playing daily fantasy sports below.

It’s very enjoyable.

Playing daily fantasy sports is enjoyable. Of course, playing fantasy sports all season long is great as well, but there’s something about the daily competitions that adds an extra layer of excitement and intrigue. For starters, there is more diversity, and each week, you can try out new lineups and methods. This makes things more intriguing.

In a league that lasts the entire season, it’s easy to find yourself playing the same players week in and week out, especially if no one else is interested in trading. Due of this, it may be tough for you to recover from one or two early errors, possibly to the point where you have no chance of succeeding. Every day and every week in daily fantasy sports, you start from scratch.

The quickness with which rewards are distributed is one of the most entertaining features of daily fantasy sports. Since nothing is decided until the end of the season, you will have to wait three to four months before receiving any winnings in a contest that lasts an entire season. However, profits in daily fantasy sports competitions are given out practically immediately.

It is entirely legal.

Fantasy sports were specifically excluded from the laws when the United States, in its infinite wisdom, created the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act). In other words, the US federal authorities does not view fantasy sports as “criminal gambling.” They aren’t regarded as prohibited anyplace else either, as far as we know.

The same principles that season-long fantasy sports have employed for years apply to daily competitions. Furthermore, nobody is concerned about the legitimacy of year-long fantasy sports competitions. In actuality, a sizable portion of Americans engage in season-long fantasy sports each year. They are also well-liked throughout the rest of the world.

Instead of waiting a few weeks for the season to complete, why not participate in the equally enjoyable and entirely legal version of the game where you can cash out your winnings immediately?

Real Money Can Be Won

These justifications for participating haven’t been listed in any particular order, but it’s safe to assume that this is going to be the main driver for many people playing daily fantasy sports. Anyone has a chance to win the real money that is on the line. Some gamers even use contest participation as their primary source of income.

Although it’s difficult to estimate just how much money the best fantasy sports players are turning over, there is evidence to suggest that they may be taking home at least $10,000 a week. Of course, it’s quite improbable that you’ll make that much right away because there is a learning curve. However, if you’re committed and ready to put in the time and effort, there’s no reason why you can’t succeed in getting there.

Commissions and the Path to Wealth

You probably don’t want to worry too much about what it takes to consistently make money if you’re new to playing daily fantasy sports. It’s more crucial to just practice playing. But it doesn’t hurt to have a basic understanding of a few topics. This text can be skipped if you’d like, but we suggest reading it all the way through.

Identifying the proportion of competitions you must win in order to be profitable is the first step in becoming financially successful. To better clarify this, let’s examine head-to-head matches and 50/50 odds. These are low variance competitions where, if you’re competing against others of comparable skill, you should succeed roughly 50% of the time.

If you were to win 50% of the time, you would almost certainly break even.

Not quite, as all entry costs are subject to a commission on DFS sites. Of all, this is quite fair given that they are in the business of making money. It’s the same as how bookmakers and poker rooms charge vig and rake. Simply put, it implies that daily fantasy players must earn enough money to pay their commissions, much like sports bettors must beat the vig to turn a profit and poker players must earn enough money to cover the rake.

Fortunately, the commissions are low enough to make it possible to sustain a winning percentage that is high enough to indicate a profit.

A conventional head-to-head competition, for instance, would operate along these lines.

• You fork up $10 to enter.
• A $10 admission fee is paid by your opponent.
• The prize is $18.
• Site owners keep $2.

You need to prevail in 55.56% of these competitions in order to break even. You can make money if you can perform better than that. The bigger your winning percentage, the more money you’ll make. Here is how the arithmetic functions with a 56% win rate.

• You spend $1,000 to enter 100 competitions at a cost of $10 each.
• You take home 56 wins for a grand total of $1,008 (56 x $18).
• Return of $1,008 less the cost of $1,000 equals a profit of $8.
• Divided by 100 contests, a $8 profit works out to $0.08 per contest.
• Clearly, this is a poor return. However, by raising the victory rate to 60%, the earnings appear much better.
• You spend $1,000 to enter 100 competitions at a cost of $10 each.
• You take home 60 wins for a grand total of $1,080 (60 x $18).
• Return of $1,080 less the cost of $1,000 equals a profit of $80.
• $0.80 in profit each contest is equal to $8 profit divided by 100 contests.

These numbers start to grow significantly as admission prices are raised. For instance, if you participate in $100 contests rather than $10 contests, a 60% win rate over 100 of them will result in a lucrative $800 profit.

These are simply the competitions where you have a 50% chance of winning. Guaranteed tournaments may provide top prizes in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, giving players the opportunity to make a significant financial gain. Winning those kinds of events requires a different strategy, and you won’t win as frequently, but a decent return is definitely feasible. You don’t even have to be especially smart. You only have to be willing to do the work involved in learning the tactics that will allow you to win.

It’s a Great Alternative to Online Poker

Playing daily fantasy sports has a lot in common with playing poker. For one thing, it’s a contest that rewards skill more than chance. For instance, the architecture of the tournaments and the prizes are identical to what you’ll discover in a poker tournament. There’s also plenty of strategy involved.

There’s a big difference too though, and it’s one that’s especially relevant for anyone living in the United States.

There’s no confusion about the legalities of playing fantasy sports online, as we’ve already mentioned, which makes it possible to participate safely without having to worry about where sites are based or whether they can be trusted.

Daily fantasy sports basically require a similar skillset as poker, but they are a lot less hassle. And, these days, you’re just as likely to find juicy action in the fantasy sports niche anyway. A lot of people have stopped playing poker online, for various reasons.

It’s Not Too Time Consuming

If you’ve played much season-long fantasy sports then there’s a good chance you know people in your leagues who have problems with their wives and loved ones because of the time commitment involved. Just carving out the time for multiple drafts can be a big hassle, and then there’s having to submit a line-up every week and deal with trades and free agency.

With daily contests however, the time commitment is minimal.

Drafting and picking a line-up are done simultaneously for one thing, and can probably be completed in less than hour. Compare this to a fantasy football draft for a season-long contest, which might take four hours or more to complete. You also don’t have to worry about whom to bench, or deal with trade offers or waivers. It’s just a case of picking a team and paying the money.

It Makes the Games More Interesting

Everything is more interesting when there’s money riding on it, for the majority of people at least. The most boring football matches or baseball games can be very entertaining when there is some money on the line, even if it’s just a few bucks. Having a stake in the events makes watching them unfold that much more interesting.

We’re not saying that it’s impossible to enjoy sports without entering daily fantasy contests of course. We’re just saying that participating in daily fantasy sports will probably enhance the overall enjoyment of watching games. And even if it doesn’t, there’s no commitment involved. One and done is a perfectly fine approach to a daily fantasy sports hobby.

It’s Easy to Deposit & Withdraw

Transferring money to and from your online account is super easy at most daily fantasy sites. You can usually just use PayPal, or major credit cards such as Visa or MasterCard. Transactions couldn’t be simpler, and they get approved within seconds. If you’ve ever experienced the frustration of trying to get money into or out of an online casino or sportsbook, which is likely if you’re from the United States, you’ll understand immediately why this is such a big selling point.

There’s one thing to note though. When you’re winning, and want to withdraw, the site will send winnings back in the form of a refund to your deposit method first. After that you can get a check or a PayPal deposit, but the amount of the initial deposit is always paid back as a refund. It’s particularly important to be aware of this if using a prepaid Visa or MasterCard gift card. You shouldn’t throw these away, but if you do then be sure to contact the site BEFORE making a withdrawal.

Other than that single minor issue, it’s unlikely that you’ll have any problem with the financial transactions related to playing daily fantasy sports.

There’s a Wide Variety of Sports

Most fantasy players are interested in football and baseball, and these are available at most daily fantasy sites. Basketball is also popular, along with hockey. Many sites offer contests for several other sports too though, including the following.

• Golf
• NASCAR
• MMA
• Soccer

It Can Improve Your Sports Betting Skills

Sports bettors make projections regarding the outcome of sports events. If they can find a difference between their projections and the line offered by the sportsbook, they can potentially create profitable situations for themselves and make money. If you’re already a skilled sports bettor, your experience may well help you to find value when drafting a fantasy team.

By the same token, any experience you gain in playing fantasy sports may help with your betting. Successful betting requires paying close attention to teams and players, and daily fantasy sports will get you elbow deep into the statistics of these teams and their players instantly. Having to deal thoughtfully with the kinds of projections and statistics involved in determining player value will almost certainly improve your betting.

You might find out that you’re better at fantasy sports than you are at regular sports betting. Or you might find out the opposite is true. Either way, it’s worth finding out. Anything you can do to increase the amount of insight you have into these sports can help you gain an edge and earn a profit.

It’s a Less Passive Form of Entertainment

One of the problems with the world in the 21st century is how passive we humans have become as a race. Being truly active in sports would involve actually playing of course, but playing a fantasy version makes you more of an active participant than the couch potato who sits there in his underwear smoking a cigar and screaming for the Cowboys to win.

You may have noticed a lot of people writing and talking about “mindfulness” these days. It’s a popular concept in Eastern philosophy. The idea is that you should be paying attention to what you’re doing in the here and now. By increasing that focus, you get more value out of life.

Nothing increases the amount of attention you’ll pay to sports more than having some kind of financial stake in them.

Even a small amount of money can ramp up how much notice you’re taking of what’s happening. In a sense, playing daily fantasy sports turns watching sports into a kind of active meditation.

Top Tip

If reading through these reasons has convinced you to give daily fantasy sports betting a shot, then it’s time to think about the next step. You need to sign up with a daily fantasy site, and we strongly suggest checking out our top recommendations before doing so. Most sites are pretty good, but our recommendations are the very best places to play.