Best Review of US Daily Fantasy Online Betting Sites
At some time, you would have dreamt about being a part of the sport and even have a team of your own. Daily Fantasy Online Sports betting can make that happen. Sports betting has been in existence for quite a long time now, and bettors have been making the most of it. Daily fantasy sports betting is a subset of fantasy games that allows you to draft the team according to the salary cap given by the site.
Players on fantasy sports games compete by creating a team of professional players from different sports. There are plenty of top DFS sites in the US, like DraftKings. Daily fantasy sports come under the category of real money betting sites that give you the excitement to be close to your favorite sports and to mount up your monetary gains.
Best DFS Sites for Great Experience
What is Fantasy Sports Websites?
Before moving ahead, it is essential to get a clear understanding of the term. It is not entirely about gambling, but daily fantasy online sports betting imbibes some of its characteristics. These sites work on a daily or weekly basis in order to increase competitiveness. You need to find the top DFS betting sites and choose the most ideal one for your requirement. You will be given a salary cap set by the website, and you would be required to draft the team based on the player’s best statistics. The winning situation of the players in your team will determine your success. The best way to bet on DFS is to locate the top rate of DFS sites.
DFS: A Type of Legal Sports Betting?
The DFS market is brimming with opportunities and significantly contributing to the economy. Since it is counted as the sports betting means, DFS is much more refined than that. In sports betting, you have to predict whether the team or a player would make specific points or win a match. DFS sites allow you to create your team and promote playing against other people who have drafted their own team.
Currently, daily fantasy sports sites are legal in some parts of the US. Compared to other parts of the world, the DFS market is much famous in the US. Gambling in the US is a complex issue due to the legal situation. But things are getting better day by day. In the case of daily fantasy sports, you can play for real money without breaking any law.
If the site has operator licenses and is registered under the gaming commission, you do not have to worry about anything. Unlike online poker and casino games, fantasy sports are games where skills predominated the wagering element. Hence they are more legal in the US.
Factors To Consider Choosing the Best Daily Fantasy Site
The most crucial decision that you need to make for playing on the DFS site is to select one. With the abundance of top DFS betting sites, making a decision can become challenging. Here are a few factors that will always help to make a decision.
- Number of Bets: You must ascertain whether the site provides you with a wide range of betting options so that you can make the most of it.
- Bonuses and Promotions: You would not want to play on a site that does not have anything exciting to offer you, like bonuses or promotions.
- Loyalty Programs: Another essential criterion for selecting a DFS site is to ascertain whether they have special considerations for their loyal players.
- Security: Being an online sport betting alternative, you need to ensure the security of the site. Ensuring the operator’s licenses is the first step to do that.
- Banking Methods: Varied range of payment methods will only make things easier for you. When you have different banking methods for deposits and withdrawals, you will be able to make the most of the platform.
Top Fantasy Sports Sites in the US
Now that you have learned how to find the best DFS betting sites by adhering to some of the essential factors, it is time to get acquainted with some of the best DFS sites in the US. From their way of keeping the players hooked to rewarding them in the best possible way, these sites have done it all. So when you are thinking to choose a DFS site, you can refer to this list:
Monkey Knife Fight
Claimed to be one of the most popular daily fantasy websites in the world, Monkey Knife Fight has done everything to reach such a position in the market. The quick and secure deposits and withdraws makes this site an easy to play platform. There are plenty of prop games that you can engage in. You can legally play on Monkey Knife Fight in 30 US states as of now. There is a $5 welcome bonus, $10 bonus on any deposits and a 100% bonus up to $50 on your first deposit.
Thrive Fantasy
Thrive Fantasy is a new entrant in the DFS market, which has gained ample recognition in a short time. You can play a wide range of favorite sports with your peers and bag rewards. It is a peer-to-peer Esports platform that has awards up to $1300,000 in cash prize. There’s an instant deposit bonus of 20% right when you make your first deposit.
DraftKings DFS
It is one of the top DFS titans in the market. DraftKings DFS has made its reputation amidst the players by being a safe and reliable platform. It gives you a wide range of payment options that you can choose from. You can also take part in the referral program to mount up your rewards and make it easier for you to win. First-time depositors will receive $10 as a bonus, and the deposit bonus with at least $5 of the deposit will get you up to $500.
Boom Fantasy
Though it is not as big as other DFS sites in the market, Boom Fantasy is on its way to make it big to the DFS market. By the year 2017, Boom Fantasy made $2 million, which is quite a start for a budding DFS site. It is quite different from the regular fantasy sport; instead of drafting a team, you are allowed to make predictions on the player’s performance. You will get a 100% welcome bonus of up to $600, which is pretty impressive for a beginner DFS site.
FanDuel DFS
One of the biggest DFS sites till date that has generous fan support, FanDuel receives investment from the most prominent capital firm in the world. The platform has around 400,000 line-ups every week during football events alone. Bonus deposits, intuitive interface, mobile-friendly site, mobile apps for iOS and Android, exciting contests are some of the best features of FanDuel. The no-deposit welcome bonus is really a catch. You get a $5 bonus on sign up which you can use to wager on DFS futures markets.
Fantasy Draft
Over the past few years, Fantasy Draft is clearly making an impact on the DFS market. They have plenty of monthly contests with prize payouts from $100,000 to $500,000. For those who are looking for a change in their DFS’s craze must try this site once. The newcomers are given a $10 bonus for their initial deposit. Also, this deposit will warn them 4% bonus cash back for the first 90 days on entry fees.
Yahoo DFS
The world’s leader in the DFS market, Yahoo DFS, has been able to tap into the season-long fantasy sports contests. Whether it is offers, speed or functionality, Yahoo DFS has made its prominence felt in the market. It gives a salary cap of $200 for filling the roster. They have a bonus reward system where you get 1000 points for every $1. Use the bonus code YSRP every time you make a deposit and receive your Yahoo daily fantasy deposit bonus.
How to Play Daily Fantasy Sports Games
We understand that this kind of sports betting is a relatively new invention. So, we prepared a guide on how to enter the world of top daily fantasy sports sites.
- Start your research of the world of DFS on our website. We made reviews on the best DFS sites, so you can be sure that you are going to bet on a legal place that is not going to cheat on you. Each DFS site has its design and style of communication with its players, so check our reviews and guides to find a perfect DFS just for you.
- Press a registration button and fill in the form. You are to write down your name, e-mail address. Also, the site is going to ask for your ID.
- After registration, the DFS site will direct you to a deposit page. There you need to pick a banking method that suits you and fill in the required info. All the best DFS sites are going to offer you various banking methods like credit and debit cards, electronic bank transfers, or E-wallets.
- Browse the site’s lobby to see contests that are to start. Click on their names to receive all the info about an upcoming event like prizes, entry fees, or payout structure. Then you need to press the button “enter” or “join” to start your journey in this tournament. Important! Read the info before entering the contest.
- After the previous step, you are to receive the salary cap and detailed instructions on drafting your team. You need to compose the best team possible.
- Compose your lineup. You are to receive detailed instructions prepared by the site. After this site, you are finally ready to “battle”.
- Now all you have to do is to wait until the tournament is over to see the results. Selected athletes receive stats in their games and your team gains points accordingly to an athlete’s performance.
Detailed Guide on Types of DFS Betting Contests
The world of the DFS has grown enough to divide its contest into two large groups: cash games and tournaments. Let discuss them in smaller details.
DFS Tournaments
This type of contest is the most popular by players. Tournaments guarantee large payouts to their contestants. For example, the first-place finisher can get a $50000 prize. Surely, the rivalry is huge, so you need to be patient and confident.
The goal of such tournaments is to finish the round as high as possible, so players are to compose their lineups carefully. There are such types of tournaments:
- GPPs: if you see this term in the description of the tournament, you can be sure that the prize pool is huge. Also, taking part in GPP-event means that you will 100% end up with some award.
- Satellites: this means that you are to can enter a tournament with a much higher cash payout.
- Tournaments: in some cases, this word means that the contest is going to be between 3-100 players.
- Freerolls: the best type for newbies, because you can enter the contest with no fee but pretend to gain a cash payout.
- Steps: it is a series of small tournaments, after finishing each of them, you can bet for a huge prize in cash. Important: you can’t change athletes that you have picked at the first step, so choose them wisely.
DFS Cash Games
In comparison to the tournaments, cash games are much easier to win, but you will get a smaller prize. However, such games are flat: you don’t need to finish in the first place. All you need is to beat enough players, so crafting the lineup is once again the most important thing to do.
Types of DFS Cash Games
- Head-to-head: It is a part of cash games where you will compete against one of the opponents.
- 50/50: Another variant of cash games, 50/50 where if you win, you will get double the payment of your entry ticket.
- Multipliers: this is a variation of the 50/50 type but you can expect to receive payouts to a smaller part of the field.
Our explanation of the world of best DFS will not be full without careful examination of types of drafts. Surely, they will vary in different lineups depending on bettors’ strategies but we can generalize the draft in four groups:
- Salary Cap: a player receive the virtual sum to spend on athletes. Remember that you need to pick the best athletes ever. In this draft, athletes are not removed from the pool, so they are available to all contestants that bring equality to the game but simultaneously turn the contest into the battle of colossi.
- Pick’em: this type of draft is not available at each DFS site. DraftKings is known for its love for it. Pick’em gives the possibility to pick athletes from groups that were previously selected by the DFS site.
- Snake Draft: once the athlete is drafted, no one else can draft it. Fairness is kept because there is an order of picking. For example, if you are picking athletes as a first player, in the second round you will have a right to pick sportsmen only as a second player. And so on.
- Auction Draft: in this draft players “nominate” an athlete that is going to the action. The player who puts the highest bid, will “grab” the athlete to own the team. A trap in this draft is the need to carefully calculate your budget when nominating and bidding on the athlete.
Sports Events
When it comes to naming the sports events that are available on these fantasy sports sites, the list is endless. Different sites have a diverse range of sports events, but some of the popular events include:
- Football (NFL Season)
- Basketball (NBA)
- Baseball (MLB)
- Hockey (NHL)
- College football
- College basketball
- Golf
- NASCAR
- Soccer
- Mixed martial arts
- Esports (like CS: GO, League of Legends, Dota 2)
- UEFA European Championships
DFS Betting VS Sports Betting: the Difference
We all know that betting has become a sport in itself; today, you can bet on possibly anything in the market. Sports betting is one such type of betting where you wager on different sports events. Daily fantasy sports or DFS, on the other hand, involves playing a fantasy sport. The player drafts a team of his own which takes him towards victory. So, what makes sports betting and DFS betting different?
- DFS Betting is Against Each Other: One of the significant differences that sets them apart is that DFS betting is where you play against other people. Sports betting is merely betting individually on sports.
- Skill Set: Of course, both have different gameplays, so it requires a different skillset. In DFS games, you need to focus on player’s statistics to create teams, and in sports betting, you look up their performance to wager.
Useful Vocabulary For DFS Games
- Guaranteed Prize Pools: These are the most common types of DFs contests where you already know how much money is up there for you to grab.
- Leagues: It is as simple as it sounds; this DFS contest is played when a league gets started.
- Tiers: Tiers are the contests formed in the context of the ongoing tournament or leagues as they are divided into different gameplay tiers.
- Beat The Score: To beat the score, you just need to meet the target score, there’s no pressure of coming first.
- Showdown Captain Mode: It is nothing but an addition of a captain position in your roster that will increase your compile points by 1.5x.
- Single Game: As the name suggests, a single game is a contest where you play for a single game, and whether you win or lose, it’s everything in it.
Parlay, Prop, and Prediction Fantasy Sports: These are different categories of fantasy sports that are not played similarly to regular fantasy sports games.
Daily Fantasy Sports & Season Long Fantasy Sports
The major highlight of the Daily Fantasy Sports is that they are quick and short term. You do not have to wait as the contest ends in a day or week. That’s the significant difference between DFS and season-long fantasy sports. DFS will let you bet on the players for a specific day or week of the event, whereas, in season-long fantasy sports, you have to stick around for the entire season. It is one of the main reasons why people are shifting to daily fantasy sports and giving up season-long fantasy sports.
Types of DFS Bonuses
- Welcome Bonus: One of the common types of bonuses that almost every DFS site offers today, the welcome bonus is given to you when you sign up to a website. Generally, the sites promote 100% that can range up to $50 to $500.
- No Deposit Bonus: As the name suggests, this type of bonus is similar to a welcome bonus, the only difference is you can get it at any point. You just need to make use of the code to avail of the bonus.
- Match Bonus: It is the exact opposite of no-deposit bonus; match bonus happens when you deposit a certain amount into the game. It can range from $5 to $5000.
- Loyalty Program: Different sites have varied ways of organizing loyalty programs. Some have rewards for loyal players; others create a point system that adds up to their rewards.
Tips To Win Real Money on DFS Sites
No matter how efficient you are at DFS betting, there is always room for some advice. In case you are a beginner and have no idea about how to get through it, you definitely need some tips and tricks up your sleeve to win.
As the daily fantasy sports market is getting bigger every day and more and more people are joining, it has become highly relevant to up your game, here are a few tips that would help:
- Always Make Use of The Variance: If you are a professional, you would know what variance is and how important it is. Variance is the general difference between expectation and reality. You just need to always embrace the variance while picking the team and wager. For instance, if your player has been putting up good line-ups, he will bring you profit, as simple as that.
- Go For Bankroll Strategy: If you are looking for long term success, you should take up bankroll management. Though you cannot control variance, DFS allows you to give ultimate control on bankroll due to the daily wagering system. You need to put your money wisely. Sometimes people place half of their bankroll in haste for a single game day. Take some time out and focus on bankroll management.
- Head-to-Heads and 50/50s Are Your Allies: The best thing about DFS is that you get multiple types of bets and leagues. Though head-to-heads and 50/50s are considered boring, they are the lifeblood of DFS for both experienced and amateur players. You must learn how to balance out your winning in these leagues; it can take you to places and mount up your victory.
- Maximize The Use of Bonuses: DFS bonuses are meant to be used and not to lock up in your account. The welcome bonus and no deposit bonus are the best types of bonuses you will find in DFS; make sure that you put them in good use and bring good gameplay.
Daily Fantasy Sports During the Pandemic Situation
Everyone knows that the current COVID-19 situation has taken down businesses, industries, and economies, all together. The consequences of the pandemic were extremely harsh on everyone. When the US was hit by the wave of COVID-19 in March the previous year, plenty of fantasy sports operators had to freeze their operation for months as no sports events were happening during the time. As more and more sports events and leagues make a comeback without the inclusion of in-field spectators, daily fantasy sports sites are regaining their prominence.
Offering free games based on the sports and providing more loyalty rewards has been the most effective marketing plan of the DFS sites. One of the top DFS betting sites, FanDuel is giving free contests on anything they can find on the table to welcome more players onto their website.
There’s no doubt in asserting that the DFS market has the potential to redeem its position; it’s just the matter of the right time. Many investors have also come forward to wager on DFS futures markets to enhance the current situation of the DFS market. While they need to strategize more plans, the free offers are currently helping to cope with the situation and bring back the goodwill.
The Bottom Line
Daily fantasy sports are a part of fantasy sports games that allows you to build your fantasy team and see them win. You are required to create a team based on the player’s statistics and salary cap set by the site. Over the years, betting on DFS online has gained ample traction amongst the bettors. It is one of the best ways of mobile sports betting that does not involve much of the legalities.
This DFS guide covers everything you will need to stick to a DFS site and mount up your rewards. If you are among those sports fans who want to be close to their sports, daily fantasy sports is the name for them.
FAQ
Yes, betting on DFS is legal in many states of the US. You just need to check the legality in your state to learn the best way regarding how to bet on DFS.
It is a subset of sports betting, but it is beyond just betting on sports events, it is more of a social game. You are required to create a team that will make you win.
Yes, the gains from fantasy sports are categorized as taxable income. If your net profits are more than $600/per year, the DFS sites or operators must issue you and the IRS the 1099-MISC tax form.
Different states have different rules regarding the minimum age of playing legally on DFS. Typically, it is 21 years in most of the US states.
There are no hard and fast rules that you must play on a particular DFS site. As far as the site is licensed and regulated, you can play on as many sites as you want.