FanDuel Review

FanDuel is a New York based corporation offering daily and weekly fantasy sports contests with cash prizes. The popular technology blog TechCrunch suggests thinking of a FanDuel contest as a "'one-night stand' of fantasy sports", and that's as good a description for the kind of action you'll get here as any. FanDuel (along with DraftKings) is one of the two 800-pound gorillas in this niche.

One of the major differences between FanDuel and their most aggressive competitor (DraftKings) is the variety of contests available. FanDuel has a more focused menu of sports to choose from, offering only football, baseball, basketball, and hockey.

Some might consider this a drawback, but I see this as one of the pros of using their service. Why deal with a cluttered menu of contests for sports I have no interest in? I'd rather look at a simple list of four sports that I'm interested in instead.

This is better even for those players who are only interested in football, for example, because you have fewer choices to wade through.

Here are some additional details about the three main bonuses and promotions available to FanDuel customers.

One of the few complaints I have about FanDuel is to do with the signup bonus. Specifically, I am disappointed that it isn't easier to find information about it on their website. I have the same complaint with DraftKings. This might be an industry norm, but I don't like it. I never played at an online poker site, casino site, or sportsbook which didn't make the amount of their signup bonus clear, front and center.

FanDuel, being a United States company, conducts business in United States Dollars. The site accepts all of the following for deposits.

Visa MasterCard

Discover PayPal

FanDuel processes refunds via your deposit method. This is a fraud prevention tactic. If this safeguard weren't in place, someone could steal your credit card, make a deposit, and withdraw that money into their PayPal account.

FanDuel makes a distinction between refunds and withdrawals. Refunds are withdrawals that come from your initial deposit. Withdrawals can only be made on money you've won beyond your initial deposit.

You can withdraw winnings via PayPal or via check. The turnaround time for a PayPal withdrawal is 48 hours, but a check takes 7 to 10 business days to receive.

The following sports are available at FanDuel.

I'll explain more about the contests for each of these sports shortly, but first I'm going to cover a few general points. Most of the readers of this review already have some familiarity with fantasy sports, but for those of you that don't, this brief introduction ought to get you enough up to speed to at least understand this review.

Traditional fantasy sports leagues usually consist of a dozen or so sports fans. They hold an annual draft and choose players for their fantasy teams. Then they manage that team throughout the season—choosing which players to play and which ones to bench every day or each week.

The players agree to a scoring rubric at the beginning of the season, and the commissioner of the league sets up a schedule for when each team plays each other team. Based on their individual players' performances, the teams get a score, and a winner is determined every day or each week. At the end of the season, the players with the best records compete in a play-off for the championship of that league.

If that sounds like a big commitment and a lot of work… well, it is.

Daily and weekly fantasy sports contests, on the other hand, eliminate the season-long commitment. You draft a team just for that day's or that week's games. Your opponent(s) do the same. When that day's or week's games are over, winners are determined, and everyone gets on with their lives.

Season-long fantasy sports contests often involve an entry fee and a cash prize, but you have to wait until the end of the season to collect your winnings (if any). One of the perks to the daily and weekly contests available via FanDuel and their competitors is the immediate return on your investment.

Another perk of daily and weekly fantasy sports is its legality. When Congress passed the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act) in 2006, Internet poker began to dry up—at least for players in the United States. But the law specifically exempted fantasy sports sites from its provisions.

Fantasy sports aren't legal in every state, but in most states, it's considered a game of skill. Most U.S. jurisdictions distinguish between games of skill and games of chance. Since fantasy sports are clearly skill-based, they're legal in most jurisdictions.

Fantasy Football at FanDuel

FanDuel offers both NFL and college based fantasy football contests. NFL contests take place over two or three days, in order to get in all the games for Thursday, Sunday, and Monday night.

You get a salary cap of $60,000, and you use these funds to draft a 9-player team. Your player pool consists of all the NFL or college football players expected to see action that week. You're required to choose players from multiple teams who are participating in multiple games—if you just chose all of the Washington Redskins, you might just as well be placing a bet on the outcome of the game, which would be illegal.

A FanDuel fantasy football team is made up of the following positions.

You score points based on how your players perform that week. The site has an elaborate scoring system, but here are some examples of how your team members can earn points.

You can track live scoring as it happens via the site, and your winnings or losses are recorded as soon as the scores become official.

Fantasy Baseball at FanDuel

I've played plenty of season-long fantasy football seasons, but I've never had the courage to try fantasy baseball. Since there's something going on every day during a baseball season, the amount of time required to participate is too daunting.

But I am willing to play the daily contests at FanDuel, because let's face it—they're one and done.

FanDuel only offers contests for professional baseball (MLB). You start with a $35,000 salary cap and 9 roster spots, as follows.

Fantasy baseball scoring is relatively simple.

Fantasy baseball points are tallied on the site in a real time basis, and you get your winnings (if any) credited to your account as soon as the official scores are all in.

Fantasy Basketball at FanDuel

FanDuel offers both college and professional fantasy basketball contests. NBA contests seem to be the more popular of the two options. Savvy bettors know that there's probably more opportunity to put their skills at handicapping to work in the less popular of these contests, but there's also correspondingly less action on those games.

Like the other fantasy sports contests at FanDuel, your fantasy basketball team roster has a salary cap—in this case, $60,000. Your roster consists of 9 players.

Fantasy basketball probably has the simplest scoring rubric on the site, as follows.

Fantasy basketball contests have real-time scoring, and your payouts are credited to your account as soon as the site verifies the official statistics for each game.

Fantasy Hockey at DraftKings

Fantasy hockey at FanDuel.com is based on the players in the National Hockey League (NHL). You get a $55,000 salary cap and a 9 player roster, consisting of the following positions.

The scoring is different for outfield players and goalies.

FanDuel posts live results on their site, so you can see how you're doing at any time during the games. When the official totals are tallied, you're awarded your winnings (if any).

There are four main types of contests available at FanDuel.

You can filter choices in the left sidebar of the site according to sport and type of contest that you're interested in. You can sort those contests by buy-in amount, from largest to smallest or vice-versa. You can create your contests or sign up for the contests that other players have already created.

The prize structures for these contests are determined by the number of entrants and the entry fee. The site also deducts a commission for hosting the contest. For example, if you're playing in a two player contest with a $1 entry fee, the prize pool is $1.80. That's calculated by adding your $1 with your opponent's $1, and then the site deducts a 10% vig. "Vig" is another word for "vigorish"-- sports betting talk for "commission".

Head to Head (H2H) contests are my favorites. You play against a single opponent, and the winner gets the spoils. You can find these available in buy-ins ranging from $1 to $10,600. And no, that's not a typo. You can play head to head with an opponent for a $20,000 prize.

50/50s are contests with multiple other players. Half of the field wins a flat prize if they're in the top 50%; the other half loses. This format has similarities to the head to head contests, but you're facing a larger field of players.

Leagues are contests with between 3 and 250 contestants. The site usually has a minimum number of contestants; if enough contestants don't sign up, the contest is canceled and your entry fee returned. The prize pool for a league is staggered and based on the number of competitors. This contest type is similar to a large multi-table tournament in poker.

Tournaments are leagues with a guaranteed prize pool. The advantage of playing in a tournament with a guaranteed prize pool is simple—you have the opportunity for an overlay situation. An overlay is when the prize pool for a contest is more than the entry fees for that contest.

Here's a simple example. Suppose you're playing in a tournament with a $2000 guaranteed prize pool and a $20 entry fee. If 100 players or more enter the contest, you have no overlay, but if 99 or fewer players compete, there's extra money in the prize pool. Professional gamblers love situations like this.

Here's why. Suppose you have a $100 guaranteed first prize for a tournament. And you have to pay $10 to enter the tournament. You only have four competitors. Assuming you and your competitors all have an equal chance of winning, you have a 20% chance of winning $100, which makes your $10 entry fee worth $20 in expectation.

Since FanDuel is one of the most popular daily fantasy sports contest websites, you'll find few overlay opportunities here. When you do find one, take advantage of it.

With a head to head or 50/50 contest, you want to reduce variance as much as possible in order to maximize your chances of placing in the money. In a league or tournament, you want to embrace variance—the only way you can win in one of these contests is by having one or more breakout performances from your players each week.

That means a running back who's extremely consistent is a great value in a 50/50 or H2H contest, but you want someone whose numbers indicate he might have a huge week in a league or a tournament. The barrier to winning money in those types of contest is just that much higher.

A big button labeled "Help" is available in the top menu, so it's not hard to find customer support on this site. Their customer support page recommends reading their FAQ first before contacting them.

You can contact support via the online ticket system on the site, or you can send them an email. There's a minor complaint here, as I'm disappointed that they have no toll free customer support number to call. I know that some of the younger readers of this review will wonder why that's a big deal. They'd probably prefer not to talk to someone over the phone anyway. But for older customers like me, it matters.

I'm also disappointed that the support page doesn't list the hours of operation for their customer service team. This seems like an easy way to prevent customer disappointment. If I know that customer support is closed on Saturday, I won't be disappointed when I wait until Monday for a response. On the other hand, since no hours are listed, I have no expectation one way or the other.

Here are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about FanDuel.com.

Is FanDuel legal?

Can you make a living playing fantasy sports on FanDuel?

Which site is better, DraftKings or FanDuel?