Daily Fantasy Sports was designed as a way to turn casual sports fans into involved sports strategists and help sports viewers evolve into more interactive participation. Playing DFS involves joining a sports outlet. From that outlet, you can start to build your teams and follow them through the season to see how they fare, either at the online casino or on-site gambling venues.
FanDuel and DraftKings
There are numerous daily fantasy sports outlets available – Yahoo Sports, RotoQL, FantasyDraft, FantasyLabs and more. The two sites that are the best known are DraftKings and FanDuel. These two DFS giants have brought fantasy sports to a new level as participants enter a world of real-life professional sports through partnerships with pro leagues.
FanDuel and DraftKings are everywhere. You’ll see their ads all over the Internet and almost every pro game features at least one advertisement, both in the stadiums during live games and on TV for television viewers.
FanDuel and DraftKings combined account for at least 90% of the DFS market. Fantasy players find it hard to choose one over the other because the differences between the two aren’t readily apparent. Here’s some helpful advice for comparison:
Background
Fantasy sports was conceived by Daniel Okrent, a sportswriter who invented the first fantasy league in the early ‘80s. He and his friends created a draft and kept up with statistics through “Sporting News” magazine. They recorded statistics by hand to track the progress of their league.
The pastime grew slowly and dozens, and then hundreds of fans started to participate based on the rules detailed in the “1984 Fantasy Football Digest” guide. By 1988 an estimated half a million people were playing.
The activity continued to grow slowly and by 2009 a group of friends created FanDuel. FanDuel allowed fantasy sports fans to expand what was once a seasonal game and enable them to play around the year.
Today FanDuel is valued at over $1 billion dollars. With the introduction of legal sports betting in the United States, FanDuel has partnered with over a dozen NFL teams and with the National Basketball Association.
DraftKings and FanDuel
DraftKings was created in 2012. DK is the exclusive daily fantasy sports partner of the Canadian Football League, Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, NASCAR and Major League Soccer. DraftKings still trails FanDuel for DFS market shares but it is quickly closing the gap and threatens FanDuel for 1st place as America’s most popular daily fantasy sports site.
FanDuel and DraftKings were once close to merging but the agreement was nixed by the Federal Trade Commission which ruled that such a merger would create an illegal monopoly of the industry.
Opening an Account
You can join/log into DraftKings through Facebook or you can create a user account at either DraftKings of FanDuel.
- Deposits -- You have the option to deposit via PayPal or a major credit card on both sites. Both sides allow you to increase your deposit limit only after you make an application directly to the company. With DraftKings you can deposit directly via American Express.
- Withdrawals -- You can withdraw via PayPal and check with FanDuel. Withdrawals through DraftKings are more complicated and there are more steps needed to withdraw winnings. Both sites take the first $50 of your total withdrawal amount and apply it back to the original source of deposit (if you deposited using VISA, the first $50 of your withdrawal amount will be redeposited on your VISA card and the rest will go to whichever 2nd source you choose.
- Sign Up Bonus – Both sites offer sign up bonuses. The bonuses are dependent on the season – during baseball season the bonuses will be applied to baseball leagues and teams. Bonuses take the form of free plays for your preferred league, a percentage of bonus play, tickets into specific contests, etc.
- Referral Bonuses – both sites give bonuses both to the person who refers a new player and to the new player
Leagues
Both FanDuel and DraftKings offer the following major fantasy sports:
- NBA
- NFL
- MLB
- NHL
- MLS
- Golf
DraftKings also offers:
- MMA
- eSports
- NASCAR
Scorings and Lineups
Almost three-fourths of fantasy sports participants play fantasy football. Most of the websites of both FanDuel and DraftKings focus on football. To give you an idea of some of the similarities and differences in the lineups of the 2 sites, here is an overview of the sites’ football lineup and scoring guidelines:
- DraftKings has a $60,000 salary cap. FanDuel has a $50,000 salary cap
- FanDuel requires you to choose a kicker. DraftKings does not.
- DraftKings factors in special teams in its defensive lineup spot while FanDuel is more limited.
- DraftKings has a flex position so you can choose a second ET, YR or RB. FanDuel does not have any flex position
- DraftKings allows you to create a lineup first and then enter that specific lineup into multiple tournaments, even if you haven’t registered for a tournament, contest or league. FanDuel does not offer that option
- DraftKings allows for late player swaps. FanDuel does not.
Scoring
FanDuel and DraftKings use the same basic scoring systems. There are some differences:
- FanDuel does not have any scoring bonuses. With DraftKings you can achieve a scoring bonus when a QB throws for over 300 yards and/or for when any player totals over 100 receiving yards.
- FanDuel gives a half a point for a reception and DraftKings gives 1 point
- DraftKings subtracts 1 point for every fumble. FanDuel subtracts 2 points
- DraftKings counts special team touchdowns against the defense. FanDuel does not.
- DraftKings doesn’t have a kicker option. FanDuel includes points for field goals scored.
Platforms
The platforms of DraftKings and FanDuel are similar. Both are compatible for desktop or mobile play and have both iOS and Android apps. Both sites have a lobby where users can access the various sports, contests, line-ups, leagues, tournaments, etc.
There are high-stakes and low-stakes options on both sites. Users can create their own contests on either FanDuel or DraftKings.
Summary
In summary, FanDuel gives better sign-up bonuses and makes it easier to deposit and withdraw funds. DraftKings offers more sports and higher stakes. At DraftKings you’ll also find scoring systems that are similar to
