FanDuel Takes DFS to Next Level!
Daily Fantasy Sports, or DFS, is just starting to take off and the prizes awarded are really starting to follow the increased interest in the events. This past weekend FanDuel awarded the largest ever prize in DFS, or fantasy sports in general, with $2 million going to the winner of their championship event!
Daily Fantasy Sports is a smaller and until very recently more niche type of gambling that hadn’t caught on in the mainstream, but that has changed with ads running on ESPN, CBS and other national networks throughout the US and other countries. The prize pools have been catching up to this increased interest with the largest ever prize awarded to the winner this past weekend at $2 million, a full 100% increase over last year’s prize at the FanDuel Championship Event. Second and third place received $1 million and $500 thousand respectively. The top 3 finishers got in for $2 during qualifiers throughout the year, much like Chris Moneymaker. American-facing online sportsbooks and online casinos are even starting to wonder if their business models are in jeopardy!
Daily Fantasy Sports Overview
DFS is a mixture of the fantasy sports that everyone plays at your office and the idea of poker tournaments that allow you to rinse your mind of a bad performance and move on quickly. Football is the most popular game to be adapted to this type of betting, but all major sports have some kind of events available and NBA has been catching up in popularity because of all the game on a nightly basis available for players. Most commonly football will have different tournaments available where you will be given a salary cap and have to assemble the best roster using the available funds you have available.
The reasons this has so many comparisons to poker is that it is set up like a tournament you might find on any of your favorite poker sites and the immense amount of skill needed to perform well. These tournament formats allow for players to enter for very little amounts of money and win huge prizes. This has always been one of the driving forces behind poker tournaments and now it’s being applied to DFS and is being widely embraced, even by the national media and major networks.
FanDuel Las Vegas Championship
FanDuel invited the 100 qualifiers out for a fun weekend of helicopter rides, night clubs and other great fun. They also flew the winner home in a private jet free of charge. It’s very reminiscent of the early days of poker tournaments and festivals where players had amazing parties and fun experiences. The 100 finalists were awarded $7,000,000 in total prizes with big prizes going down the line with everyone in the top 10 getting at least $87,500. After the first slate of games ended there was a razor thin margin between $2 million and $150k for 8th place.
FanDuel Overview
If you want to get your start in DFS, FanDuel is a great option as it has some of the best ratings and publicity around. Fox Sports, The Wall Street Journal and TechCrunch have all rated it highly and written stories about it. They have over 12,000 leagues started daily and over $10 million in prizes up for grabs every week. You also don’t have to make a large commitment as you can play in free leagues, once a month, or as often as you would like.
Players who are used to payouts from poker sites will also be exceptionally happy with almost instant payouts and deposits through all the major credit cards, but also PayPal. They also offer a money back guarantee after you play your first league. If you want to deposit money, use our link to get a 100% deposit bonus up to $2,000 on your first foray into the world of Daily Fantasy Sports. This niche is likely to become even bigger in the coming years and getting in early and getting more comfortable than your opponents can lead to huge edges for you! Have you ever played DFS? What do you think about it? Tell us on Facebook or Twitter!