Red Sox vs. Yankees, Frazier vs. Ali, Lakers vs. Celtics, Packers vs. Bears…….and FanDuel Sportsbook vs. DraftKings Sportsbook. Aren't rivalries amazing?
Both FanDuel and DraftKings are two of the US's most popular platforms for daily fantasy sports (DFS). Combined, they have roughly 14 million active users across the US. They have established partnerships & sponsorships with the most significant sports leagues in the US, notably FanDuel being the Official One-Day Fantasy Game of the NBA and DraftKings being the Official Daily Fantasy Partner of the NFL.
Even more, both DraftKings sportsbook and FanDuel sportsbook now offer legal online sports betting in a handful of states. Competition between the two DFS giants is only likely to get more fierce as more states legalize online sports betting.
Soccer moneyline. For new players deciding whether to choose the FanDuel sportsbook vs. DraftKings sportsbook can be a difficult task. Both operators have a lot to offer to players, and neither has a clear lead in the competition for DFS players or online sports bets. Luckily, we have created a head-to-head, in-depth comparison of the Fanduel sportsbook and DraftKings sportsbook set up.
So without further ado, we look to answer one of the biggest questions in sports betting; what's better DraftKings or FanDuel?
He has played DFS professionally for several years and has won featured NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and golf GPPs on both FanDuel and DraftKings. Latest News Fantasy Baseball Rankings: Top 300 cheat sheet. Advertisement When it comes to online sports betting, 'DraftKings vs FanDuel' is the most common dilemma people face because they offer some of the top betting sites and apps in the US. Let's see which one is better in this article. DraftKings vs FanDuel Welcome Offer Duel – FanDuel Wins FanDuel – 5/5 FanDuel.
FanDuel vs. DraftKings New player offers
- Convenient banking
- Massive choice of sports
Draftkings Fanduel Arbitration
- The best sportsbook
- Amazing odds & offers
Both sportsbooks from FanDuel and DraftKings offer a new player welcome bonus
- FanDuel Sportsbook – Risk-free bet up to $500
- DraftKings Sportsbook – Risk-free bet + deposit bonus up to $1,000
You can also check out our guide to the best FanDuel alternatives and also our DraftKings sportsbook alternatives guide.
FanDuel vs. DraftKings | Sports Coverage
Both FanDuel and DraftKings offer daily fantasy matches and legal sports betting in the US for all major sports leagues. NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL, College Football, College Basketball, PGA, and NASCAR are all available using either platform.
However, if you are interested in a wider variety of leagues such as Euroleague Basketball or the Canadian Football League (CFL), DraftKings is the best choice. DraftKings is the only operator to offer fantasy MMA fights and eSports.
FanDuel vs. DraftKings | Where You Can Play & Bet?
For daily fantasy sports, Fanduel and DraftKings are available in all 43 US states where online fantasy gambling is legal along with Canada.
DraftKings has a broader international reach, offering accounts to residents of the UK, Ireland, Malta, Austria, and Germany.
If you wish to use FanDuel or DraftKings for mobile sports betting, we'd recommend DraftKings as it currently operates in more states. FanDuel is offering mobile sports betting in West Virginia, New Jersey, Indiana, Colorado, Tennesse, Iowa, Illinois, and Pennsylvania only with retail only available in New York, Iowa, and Mississippi.
FanDuel vs. DraftKings | Promotions, and Offers
When it comes to welcome offers, both FanDuel and DraftKings offer a lot of value for new users to get their teeth stuck into.
At DraftKings Daily Fantasy Sports, new players can use the DraftKings promo code 'SAVE' and get a 20% matched first deposit bonus up to $500*.
Then at DraftKings Sportsbooks, new players can claim a sign-up bonus of up to $1,000, awarded as a $500 risk-free bet and a matched first deposit bonus up to $500 by using promo code 'WIN'
FanDuel is offering a very similar deal to DraftKings in that of a $500 risk-free bet. FanDuel will credit your first bet up to $500 if you lose. The risk-free bet must be made on only one bet slip. So, there is no reason not to bet $500 on your first bet as you have nothing to lose.
FanDuel vs. DraftKings | Daily Fantasy Sports
In the most significant aspects, the daily fantasy games offered by FanDuel & DraftKings are very similar. But, each operator does offer unique features that can affect the player's chance of winning.
Salary Cap
When using FanDuel, you will find that the majority of contests will have a salary cap of $60,000. This salary cap is higher than a lot of contests found at DraftKings, meaning it is easier to play a star-studded, higher-scoring team when using FanDuel. This model appeals to the casual fan as they can use more household names in their lineups and requires less knowledge of the sport to get the most out of your $60,000 salary.
At DraftKings, the salary cap varies between each sport and specific tournament. This adds another dimension when it comes to drafting your team as the math is different every time. This model makes DraftKings better suited for players who are very knowledgeable on the sport as they will need to find value in their later picks on a depleted budget.
Contests
Both FanDuel and DraftKings offer many of the popular contests. Both offering tournaments of all sizes, including guaranteed payout contests, head-to-head competitions, and 50/50's, where the top half of players win prizes. However, each operator offers unique contests.
DraftKings players can partake in their Satellite contests; these are small tournaments with low entry costs. If you win a satellite fantasy contest, you're entered into much larger, featured competitions at no extra cost. This allows players to take part in larger tournaments that otherwise would be too expensive.
FanDuel poses a real advantage when it comes to contests on offer, as FanDuel is continually experimenting with unique contests. The most popular of these being the Home Range Challenge for the 2019 MLB season in which only home runs counted towards a player's fantasy points; or when FanDuel tried a positionless NBA league, in which players could draft a starting five, regardless of their position. Fans enjoyed these contests as they added some diversity and excitement to the FanDuel platform.
Swapping Players
The major difference between DraftKings and Fanduel is found in the deadline for swapping players in and out of your lineup.
On FanDuel, your lineup is locked in as soon as the first games that are being counted for your current contest begins. Whereas DraftKings offers a late swap, meaning that you can switch out an individual player from your lineup up to the point where the game with that player begins.
This late swap feature is incredibly useful for NBA fantasy betting since teams don't often announce injuries until right before tip-off. Late swap can also be helpful for NHL, and MLBgames as lineups for the west coast aren't always announced before games on the east coast begin.
FanDuel Sportsbook vs. DraftKings Sportsbook
When it comes to online sports, DraftKings has a clear upper hand over FanDuel. While both operators offer the same amount of sports to bet on, DraftKings offers a wider variety of leagues to bet on, such as the Canadian Football League and EuroLeague Basketball, and also operates in more states than FanDuel, as mentioned previously.
DraftKings Sportsbook platform includes gambling-specific stats about individual players and teams. For example, this allows you to find information about how a particular team has performed against the spread over its last ten games.
FanDuel's platform includes no stats at all, so you would have to look elsewhere, such as their oddsFire service to find your wagers.
FanDuel vs. DraftKings | User Interface
The DraftKings and FanDuel user interfaces are near identical in ways that matter. Both of their DFS lobbies are organized by sport, and both offer filters, making it easy for players to find the exact contest they wish to partake. Both operators allow you to draft players to your roster with just one click of a button.
The mobile apps are very similar between both platforms. On DraftKings mobile app, it is easier to view live contests that you've entered. Whereas on the FanDuel mobile app, they have prioritized the social aspect of DFS as they have added a screen for connecting with friends for starting new contests.
For us, the main difference between FanDuel and DraftKings is how you feel when using the app and site. We much prefer the interface on DK and find it a lot better laid out.
If you have not downloaded a sports betting app to your Android device before, check out our Android sportsbook guide.
Why Choose FanDuel Over DraftKings?
- A consistent fixed salary cap provides a simplified and cohesive experience
- New, unique, and fun contests are regularly introduced
- Sportsbook offers competitive odds
Why Choose DraftKings Over FanDuel?
- Fantasy contest and sports betting on international sports leagues
- Satellite contest allows players to enter larger tournaments they otherwise would be unable to
- Offers late swap for more customization
- Sportsbook platform is available in more states and offers more in-depth statistics
Both these sportsbook and DFS operators are absolute powerhouses in the US online gaming market. The FanDuel and DraftKings market share take up around 70% between them. DraftKings Inc. (DKNG) Stock Price has been climbing steadily over the past few months and is only expected to keep rising as sports betting gets legalized in more states.
So when it comes down to FanDuel vs. DraftKings sportsbook and who is the best? Our money is firmly on DraftKings sportsbook all day long.
The main segment of the daily fantasy sports industry — led by FanDuel and DraftKings — continues to grow exponentially. At the same there appears to be a lot of room for growth and some momentum in alternative forms of DFS, that don't rely on the salary-cap model.
Lots of other fish in the sea
Most of the market is dominated by 'traditional' DFS contests that we all know well: Entrants pick a lineup of players, constrained by a salary cap, and try to score more fantasy points than their opponents.
But that's far from the only way to do DFS. For example (this is not meant to be an exhaustive list of alternative DFS forms or the sites that offer them):
- SportsLock offers contests that are entirely bracket oriented, in which players must win heads-up contests. The site also just received a $5 million round of funding.
- DailyMVP offers contests where you attempt to pick lineups players that will outperform their expected statistics.
- DraftDay offers standard DFS contests but has a variety of non-standard games, such as contests with live drafts; 'pick'em' contests with no salary cap where players are selected from 'tiers'; and bracket-style contests. A number of sites offer takes on draft-style contests, where players pick in a 'snake' draft format.
- Draft is a mobile-only DFS site that offers quick head-to-head competitions.
ScoreStreak was also in the category of alternative DFS sites, but it has suspended operations until it can garner an investment of $5 million.
Cal Spears, co-founder of RotoGrinders, is among those who sees a lot of potential in alternative DFS forms.
'I think there is plenty of opportunity for DFS game providers that diverge from the FanDuel/DraftKings model,' Spears told Legal Sports Report. 'We haven't had a success story here yet, but it's early. Fantasy sports are fun and social. Add in the ability to win significant prizes and you've got an incredible cocktail for success. While I wouldn't aspire to billion dollar valuations, I see no reason why there can't be successful boutique games, especially those that keep acquisition costs down on the back of viral growth.'
Spears' concern with alternative DFS forms? Liquidity.
'While large prize pools and liquidity aren't as important for divergent games as they are for FanDuel and DraftKings, it should still be a focus,' Spears said. 'Game types that allow for users to more easily enter a high volume of contests have a natural liquidity advantage. That's a drawback of many of the divergent games I see now. If users can only get a few contests in per day that site is going to need a ton of users.'
Pick: Packers 27, 49ers 24. Denver Broncos at Atlanta Falcons (-4) Sunday, 1 p.m. Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10 Week 11 Week 12 Week 13 Week 14 Week 15 Week. Forbes nfl week 9 picks. NFL Expert Picks - Super Bowl. Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10 Week 11 Week 12 Week 13 Week 14 Week 15 Week 16 Week. NFL Week 9 Picks. Which teams will cover the spread in Week 9? Pete Prisco, R.J. San Francisco 49ers at Arizona Cardinals. (49ers -8) Thursday, 8:20 p.m. ET, Fox, NFL Network.
From the perspective of some of these alternative sites, there seem to be some common denominators:
- They want to be very different from FanDuel, DraftKings, and other similar sites.
- They want to appeal to casual sports fans.
- They want the games to be intuitive and easy to play.
- They don't necessarily see themselves as true competitors to traditional fantasy sites.
- They want to use social engagement as a way to drive their products.
The Daily MVP perspective
David Geller, CEO of Top Line Game Labs (DailyMVP's parent company), is the former global head of fantasy sports at Yahoo. He talks passionately about the DailyMVP product, and what DFS outside of the salary-cap format can be.
'For us, a daily game for casual sports fans will not be a game that requires spreadsheets, a large monitor and a lot of time,' Geller said in a recent interview with Legal Sports Report. 'So our approach is very much different from what FanDuel and DraftKings are doing — we wanted to sort of deconstruct the game format, and create something that was truly optimized for mobile, and for quick play, so a kind of ‘fantasy light.'
'You can have something exciting going on that day, but not something in which you are competing against daytraders that quit their jobs and are running sophisticated algorithms, and are entering the same contest as you a thousand times.'
At DailyMVP, the basic game format works like this. Depending on the contest you enter, you pick a set number of players from different teams. You can pick anyone you want; the goal is to pick the players that will outperform their projected fantasy score. If you pick the best lineup of players who outperform their expectation, you win. There's still skill involved, it's just far less time-consuming than a salary-cap game.
Geller also stresses that what a lot of daily fantasy sites don't give players is the social experience that made its season-long forerunner so popular. That's what sites like DailyMVP, SportsLock and others are trying to emulate, in some way.
'That's the underpinning of what fantasy started out as, friends competing against each other,' Geller said. 'We compress into a daily format, but we really want the fun and engagement to be there. For better or for worse, our focus is not so much on you're going to retire by playing fantasy sports, and you're going to buy a boat if you win this one big contest. When we surveyed users when I was running fantasy at Yahoo, 80 percent of those users were playing for something, but that something was never of true material value.
'That's sort of where we're taking our game. There's still got to be an incentive..and if you're playing for a cash prize that's great, but it's not something where you're going to be able to buy a new house at the end of the day.'
DailyMVP, beyond its core offering, has branched out into some other areas. It leveraged its platform to create an interactive fan game for the NHL's Washington Capitals — called CapTrick — in February. Whenever the Caps are playing, fans can use an app to pick fantasy players for a single period. If their players do well, they get a prize code delivered to their phone that they can use immediately — redeemable for things like a free hot dog or the grand prize of a $50 merchandise coupon.
'That's been really interesting just because we have seen the fan engagement be very robust, retention very high, and seeing that it's a great way to expose fans to our style of fantasy game,' Geller said.
Geller also noted another interesting promotion, with former NBA star Steve Nash. In it, fantasy players could play against Nash head-to-head, with proceeds going to his charitable foundation.
The SportsLock perspective
SportsLock apparently has a formula that some investors believe will work, after the much-publicized investment in the company — one of the largest single rounds of funding ever received by a DFS site.
Co-founder Todd Heyden talked about DFS in much the same way Geller does in an interview with Forbes. SportsLock endeavors to break the mold of what DFS is generally considered to be:
'This is a very different product in the fantasy space,' said Heyden, referring to SportsLock. 'I don't love the definition of fantasy. It doesn't have to be time consuming, complex. I want to change the way people think about fantasy. I think people who play March Madness brackets should be involved. Our industry is very archaic. Gaming has always been very archaic. We were able to see what FanDuel and DraftKings and all these other fantasy companies were doing that wasn't entertaining for sports fans. I studied FanDuel and DraftKings to make sure we do nothing that they do.'
The site and its founders are not short on belief in their product. The following appears on the site's 'About' page.
We asked all the questions – What are the best aspects of fantasy sports? Why do people play? Can people stay connected to one experience or do they need to build their own games? What's the most exciting time in sports? Why? Then we built all the answers in the form of a customizable fantasy sports experience where you draft players in bracket-based tournaments for real money against friends.
Both sportsbooks from FanDuel and DraftKings offer a new player welcome bonus
- FanDuel Sportsbook – Risk-free bet up to $500
- DraftKings Sportsbook – Risk-free bet + deposit bonus up to $1,000
You can also check out our guide to the best FanDuel alternatives and also our DraftKings sportsbook alternatives guide.
FanDuel vs. DraftKings | Sports Coverage
Both FanDuel and DraftKings offer daily fantasy matches and legal sports betting in the US for all major sports leagues. NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL, College Football, College Basketball, PGA, and NASCAR are all available using either platform.
However, if you are interested in a wider variety of leagues such as Euroleague Basketball or the Canadian Football League (CFL), DraftKings is the best choice. DraftKings is the only operator to offer fantasy MMA fights and eSports.
FanDuel vs. DraftKings | Where You Can Play & Bet?
For daily fantasy sports, Fanduel and DraftKings are available in all 43 US states where online fantasy gambling is legal along with Canada.
DraftKings has a broader international reach, offering accounts to residents of the UK, Ireland, Malta, Austria, and Germany.
If you wish to use FanDuel or DraftKings for mobile sports betting, we'd recommend DraftKings as it currently operates in more states. FanDuel is offering mobile sports betting in West Virginia, New Jersey, Indiana, Colorado, Tennesse, Iowa, Illinois, and Pennsylvania only with retail only available in New York, Iowa, and Mississippi.
FanDuel vs. DraftKings | Promotions, and Offers
When it comes to welcome offers, both FanDuel and DraftKings offer a lot of value for new users to get their teeth stuck into.
At DraftKings Daily Fantasy Sports, new players can use the DraftKings promo code 'SAVE' and get a 20% matched first deposit bonus up to $500*.
Then at DraftKings Sportsbooks, new players can claim a sign-up bonus of up to $1,000, awarded as a $500 risk-free bet and a matched first deposit bonus up to $500 by using promo code 'WIN'
FanDuel is offering a very similar deal to DraftKings in that of a $500 risk-free bet. FanDuel will credit your first bet up to $500 if you lose. The risk-free bet must be made on only one bet slip. So, there is no reason not to bet $500 on your first bet as you have nothing to lose.
FanDuel vs. DraftKings | Daily Fantasy Sports
In the most significant aspects, the daily fantasy games offered by FanDuel & DraftKings are very similar. But, each operator does offer unique features that can affect the player's chance of winning.
Salary Cap
When using FanDuel, you will find that the majority of contests will have a salary cap of $60,000. This salary cap is higher than a lot of contests found at DraftKings, meaning it is easier to play a star-studded, higher-scoring team when using FanDuel. This model appeals to the casual fan as they can use more household names in their lineups and requires less knowledge of the sport to get the most out of your $60,000 salary.
At DraftKings, the salary cap varies between each sport and specific tournament. This adds another dimension when it comes to drafting your team as the math is different every time. This model makes DraftKings better suited for players who are very knowledgeable on the sport as they will need to find value in their later picks on a depleted budget.
Contests
Both FanDuel and DraftKings offer many of the popular contests. Both offering tournaments of all sizes, including guaranteed payout contests, head-to-head competitions, and 50/50's, where the top half of players win prizes. However, each operator offers unique contests.
DraftKings players can partake in their Satellite contests; these are small tournaments with low entry costs. If you win a satellite fantasy contest, you're entered into much larger, featured competitions at no extra cost. This allows players to take part in larger tournaments that otherwise would be too expensive.
FanDuel poses a real advantage when it comes to contests on offer, as FanDuel is continually experimenting with unique contests. The most popular of these being the Home Range Challenge for the 2019 MLB season in which only home runs counted towards a player's fantasy points; or when FanDuel tried a positionless NBA league, in which players could draft a starting five, regardless of their position. Fans enjoyed these contests as they added some diversity and excitement to the FanDuel platform.
Swapping Players
The major difference between DraftKings and Fanduel is found in the deadline for swapping players in and out of your lineup.
On FanDuel, your lineup is locked in as soon as the first games that are being counted for your current contest begins. Whereas DraftKings offers a late swap, meaning that you can switch out an individual player from your lineup up to the point where the game with that player begins.
This late swap feature is incredibly useful for NBA fantasy betting since teams don't often announce injuries until right before tip-off. Late swap can also be helpful for NHL, and MLBgames as lineups for the west coast aren't always announced before games on the east coast begin.
FanDuel Sportsbook vs. DraftKings Sportsbook
When it comes to online sports, DraftKings has a clear upper hand over FanDuel. While both operators offer the same amount of sports to bet on, DraftKings offers a wider variety of leagues to bet on, such as the Canadian Football League and EuroLeague Basketball, and also operates in more states than FanDuel, as mentioned previously.
DraftKings Sportsbook platform includes gambling-specific stats about individual players and teams. For example, this allows you to find information about how a particular team has performed against the spread over its last ten games.
FanDuel's platform includes no stats at all, so you would have to look elsewhere, such as their oddsFire service to find your wagers.
FanDuel vs. DraftKings | User Interface
The DraftKings and FanDuel user interfaces are near identical in ways that matter. Both of their DFS lobbies are organized by sport, and both offer filters, making it easy for players to find the exact contest they wish to partake. Both operators allow you to draft players to your roster with just one click of a button.
The mobile apps are very similar between both platforms. On DraftKings mobile app, it is easier to view live contests that you've entered. Whereas on the FanDuel mobile app, they have prioritized the social aspect of DFS as they have added a screen for connecting with friends for starting new contests.
For us, the main difference between FanDuel and DraftKings is how you feel when using the app and site. We much prefer the interface on DK and find it a lot better laid out.
If you have not downloaded a sports betting app to your Android device before, check out our Android sportsbook guide.
Why Choose FanDuel Over DraftKings?
- A consistent fixed salary cap provides a simplified and cohesive experience
- New, unique, and fun contests are regularly introduced
- Sportsbook offers competitive odds
Why Choose DraftKings Over FanDuel?
- Fantasy contest and sports betting on international sports leagues
- Satellite contest allows players to enter larger tournaments they otherwise would be unable to
- Offers late swap for more customization
- Sportsbook platform is available in more states and offers more in-depth statistics
Both these sportsbook and DFS operators are absolute powerhouses in the US online gaming market. The FanDuel and DraftKings market share take up around 70% between them. DraftKings Inc. (DKNG) Stock Price has been climbing steadily over the past few months and is only expected to keep rising as sports betting gets legalized in more states.
So when it comes down to FanDuel vs. DraftKings sportsbook and who is the best? Our money is firmly on DraftKings sportsbook all day long.
The main segment of the daily fantasy sports industry — led by FanDuel and DraftKings — continues to grow exponentially. At the same there appears to be a lot of room for growth and some momentum in alternative forms of DFS, that don't rely on the salary-cap model.
Lots of other fish in the sea
Most of the market is dominated by 'traditional' DFS contests that we all know well: Entrants pick a lineup of players, constrained by a salary cap, and try to score more fantasy points than their opponents.
But that's far from the only way to do DFS. For example (this is not meant to be an exhaustive list of alternative DFS forms or the sites that offer them):
- SportsLock offers contests that are entirely bracket oriented, in which players must win heads-up contests. The site also just received a $5 million round of funding.
- DailyMVP offers contests where you attempt to pick lineups players that will outperform their expected statistics.
- DraftDay offers standard DFS contests but has a variety of non-standard games, such as contests with live drafts; 'pick'em' contests with no salary cap where players are selected from 'tiers'; and bracket-style contests. A number of sites offer takes on draft-style contests, where players pick in a 'snake' draft format.
- Draft is a mobile-only DFS site that offers quick head-to-head competitions.
ScoreStreak was also in the category of alternative DFS sites, but it has suspended operations until it can garner an investment of $5 million.
Cal Spears, co-founder of RotoGrinders, is among those who sees a lot of potential in alternative DFS forms.
'I think there is plenty of opportunity for DFS game providers that diverge from the FanDuel/DraftKings model,' Spears told Legal Sports Report. 'We haven't had a success story here yet, but it's early. Fantasy sports are fun and social. Add in the ability to win significant prizes and you've got an incredible cocktail for success. While I wouldn't aspire to billion dollar valuations, I see no reason why there can't be successful boutique games, especially those that keep acquisition costs down on the back of viral growth.'
Spears' concern with alternative DFS forms? Liquidity.
'While large prize pools and liquidity aren't as important for divergent games as they are for FanDuel and DraftKings, it should still be a focus,' Spears said. 'Game types that allow for users to more easily enter a high volume of contests have a natural liquidity advantage. That's a drawback of many of the divergent games I see now. If users can only get a few contests in per day that site is going to need a ton of users.'
Pick: Packers 27, 49ers 24. Denver Broncos at Atlanta Falcons (-4) Sunday, 1 p.m. Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10 Week 11 Week 12 Week 13 Week 14 Week 15 Week. Forbes nfl week 9 picks. NFL Expert Picks - Super Bowl. Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10 Week 11 Week 12 Week 13 Week 14 Week 15 Week 16 Week. NFL Week 9 Picks. Which teams will cover the spread in Week 9? Pete Prisco, R.J. San Francisco 49ers at Arizona Cardinals. (49ers -8) Thursday, 8:20 p.m. ET, Fox, NFL Network.
From the perspective of some of these alternative sites, there seem to be some common denominators:
- They want to be very different from FanDuel, DraftKings, and other similar sites.
- They want to appeal to casual sports fans.
- They want the games to be intuitive and easy to play.
- They don't necessarily see themselves as true competitors to traditional fantasy sites.
- They want to use social engagement as a way to drive their products.
The Daily MVP perspective
David Geller, CEO of Top Line Game Labs (DailyMVP's parent company), is the former global head of fantasy sports at Yahoo. He talks passionately about the DailyMVP product, and what DFS outside of the salary-cap format can be.
'For us, a daily game for casual sports fans will not be a game that requires spreadsheets, a large monitor and a lot of time,' Geller said in a recent interview with Legal Sports Report. 'So our approach is very much different from what FanDuel and DraftKings are doing — we wanted to sort of deconstruct the game format, and create something that was truly optimized for mobile, and for quick play, so a kind of ‘fantasy light.'
'You can have something exciting going on that day, but not something in which you are competing against daytraders that quit their jobs and are running sophisticated algorithms, and are entering the same contest as you a thousand times.'
At DailyMVP, the basic game format works like this. Depending on the contest you enter, you pick a set number of players from different teams. You can pick anyone you want; the goal is to pick the players that will outperform their projected fantasy score. If you pick the best lineup of players who outperform their expectation, you win. There's still skill involved, it's just far less time-consuming than a salary-cap game.
Geller also stresses that what a lot of daily fantasy sites don't give players is the social experience that made its season-long forerunner so popular. That's what sites like DailyMVP, SportsLock and others are trying to emulate, in some way.
'That's the underpinning of what fantasy started out as, friends competing against each other,' Geller said. 'We compress into a daily format, but we really want the fun and engagement to be there. For better or for worse, our focus is not so much on you're going to retire by playing fantasy sports, and you're going to buy a boat if you win this one big contest. When we surveyed users when I was running fantasy at Yahoo, 80 percent of those users were playing for something, but that something was never of true material value.
'That's sort of where we're taking our game. There's still got to be an incentive..and if you're playing for a cash prize that's great, but it's not something where you're going to be able to buy a new house at the end of the day.'
DailyMVP, beyond its core offering, has branched out into some other areas. It leveraged its platform to create an interactive fan game for the NHL's Washington Capitals — called CapTrick — in February. Whenever the Caps are playing, fans can use an app to pick fantasy players for a single period. If their players do well, they get a prize code delivered to their phone that they can use immediately — redeemable for things like a free hot dog or the grand prize of a $50 merchandise coupon.
'That's been really interesting just because we have seen the fan engagement be very robust, retention very high, and seeing that it's a great way to expose fans to our style of fantasy game,' Geller said.
Geller also noted another interesting promotion, with former NBA star Steve Nash. In it, fantasy players could play against Nash head-to-head, with proceeds going to his charitable foundation.
The SportsLock perspective
SportsLock apparently has a formula that some investors believe will work, after the much-publicized investment in the company — one of the largest single rounds of funding ever received by a DFS site.
Co-founder Todd Heyden talked about DFS in much the same way Geller does in an interview with Forbes. SportsLock endeavors to break the mold of what DFS is generally considered to be:
'This is a very different product in the fantasy space,' said Heyden, referring to SportsLock. 'I don't love the definition of fantasy. It doesn't have to be time consuming, complex. I want to change the way people think about fantasy. I think people who play March Madness brackets should be involved. Our industry is very archaic. Gaming has always been very archaic. We were able to see what FanDuel and DraftKings and all these other fantasy companies were doing that wasn't entertaining for sports fans. I studied FanDuel and DraftKings to make sure we do nothing that they do.'
The site and its founders are not short on belief in their product. The following appears on the site's 'About' page.
We asked all the questions – What are the best aspects of fantasy sports? Why do people play? Can people stay connected to one experience or do they need to build their own games? What's the most exciting time in sports? Why? Then we built all the answers in the form of a customizable fantasy sports experience where you draft players in bracket-based tournaments for real money against friends.
Contests at SportsLock are either one-on-one or bracket style, in which you play your way through single-elimination contests featuring four or eight fantasy players. You draft your teams — with no salary cap — in real time. You advance in a bracket — March-Madness style — by beating your opponent if your fantasy team scores more points than theirs. You then draft again — against a new opponent — based on new sporting events.
Like other alternative DFS sites, SportsLock emphasizes social engagement, and even includes a 'text/iMessage service for external communications.'
The company launched the forerunner of its current iteration — called 'Lock' — in 2013. The app resurfaced earlier this year as SportsLock, and it has obviously quickly attracted attention. The Forbes article also noted SportsLock is already working on securing another round of funding that will surpass eight figures.
'It's exciting to see some divergent sites secure significant funding despite the lack of a success story,' Spears, alluding to deals like SportsLock's. 'As soon as someone figures it out, we may see the floodgates open.'
Is Fanduel And Draftkings Legal
Fantasy baseball betting sites to play. Photo by Paro_for_Peace used under license CC BY 2.0.
