DraftKings Review
DraftKings Review
Despite the fact that the website started working in 2012, DraftKings managed to build a name for themselves quickly and at the moment they are one of the largest fantasy sports websites with a great number of players. At DraftKings you can participate in real money daily fantasy leagues in Football (NFL and the NCAA Football), Baseball (MLB), Basketball (NBA and NCAA Basketball), Hockey (NHL) and Golf (PGA Golf). The annual prize pool at DraftKings exceeds $200M, and there are thousands of lucky winners per year. The company is based in Boston, Massachusetts and is 100% legal in the USA. DraftKings and fantasy sports in general are in compliance with the Federal UIGEA law. According to this law, which was passed in 2006, fantasy sports is a game of skill and doesn't qualify as gambling. However, citizens of Washington, Louisiana, Arizona, Iowa, Montana and the Canadian Quebec are only allowed to enter free contests and can't play for real money, due to their specific local regulations. DraftKings was featured in articles in renowned journals, magazines and newspapers, such as: Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Business Wire, TechCrunch and the Boston Globe. DraftKings organize numerous flagship championship with prize pools going into the 7 digits. The winner of Fantasy Football Millionaire won $1M and the total prize pool was above $3M.
Getting started
Opening a fantasy sports account at DraftKings is a piece of cake and it only takes a couple of minutes. All you need to do is provide your email address. Afterwards you can choose a fantasy league and draft your team. Once you are logged in to the site you can click on the "My Lineups" and "My Contests" tabs in order to review the contests you have entered and the players you have selected and you can change some of your players, if that option is still available.
Withdrawals and deposits
At DraftKings players have several deposit options. Most players deposit either via PayPal, or credit/debit card. All major cards, such as Visa, MasterCard and American Express are accepted. The minimum deposit is only $5, which is less than the required minimum at almost every other sports fantasy site. The website has a 128-bit encryption which guarantees the safety of the transactions and protects sensitive information from cyber intruders. The players can withdraw via the same methods and alternatively withdrawal checks can be issued. Credit card and PayPal withdrawals usually take one business day, whereas checks are processed within 14 business days. If you request a withdrawal method different than the deposit method, the DraftKings will still issue the deposited amount back to credit card or PayPal account that was initially used, before releasing the rest of the money to the selected withdrawal method.
Contest types
The types of contests that they offer are a feature which really differentiates DraftKings from all the other fantasy sports websites. Namely, they offer 10 different types of contest. In 1-on-1, or head-to-head contest, there are only two participants and the winner takes it all. In Guaranteed Prize Pool Contests, the amount of money which is to be paid out to the winners is fixed and that amount will be cashed out, regardless of number of participants. One very unique type of contests are the Beginner contests, where beginners can learn the dynamics of fantasy sports by playing against other beginners. Each player can enter 50 such contests per sport. Once he has entered 50 Beginner contests in a particular sport, Beginner contests in that sport will no longer be available. There are four stages or 4 Steps of the contest. The top half of the participants will advance to the next step and the player who will be on top in Step 4 is the winner. The points are not cumulative, i.e. each Step is like a separate competition.
In the 50/50's the participants who finish in the top half win, regardless of the number of participants. Leagues are a traditional contest type, where 3-20 players compete against each other, and the first player, or the first two/three players win prizes, depending on the number of participants. Multi-Match Head-to-Head is a unique competition, with 21 participants, where each player's team is compared against the teams of the other players, thus mimicking 1-on-1 contests. The Freerolls are free competitions, but if you win you can earn an Entry Ticket for real money competitions. Winning the Qualifier Contests will allow you to qualify for high stake competitions.
Drafts and entry fees
We already mentioned the available sports at DraftKings and the draft type offered is the salary cap draft, which pretty much resembles the way professional clubs work. Namely, as a participant you are allocated a $50,000 fantasy budget and the goal is to fill in the roster without exceeding $50,000. You won't be able to participate if you haven't filled all the required roster positions and you won't be able to 'sign' a player if, by doing so, you would exceed the limit. The advantage of this draft method is that you don't have to wait for the other players and you can select your team as fast as you want. The entry fee depends on the type of the competition and it may go from as little as a quarter ($0.25), up to $1000 or even more.
Promotions and bonuses
DraftKings offers a variety of promotions and bonuses. At the moment they have an exclusive 'Free Entry' offer, where by making a deposit you get a free entry to a real money game. In addition, each new player receives 100% first deposit bonus. With the first deposit you also get a chance to enter the $1000 MoonShot MLB competition for only $2. By entering real money contests, each player earns Frequent Player Points (FPP), regardless whether he is winning or losing. The FPP can later be redeemed and used as entry tickets for certain contests.
Playbook
DraftKings features a Playbook section where they publish numerous interesting and informative articles on topics associated with fantasy sports and sports in general. You can read an article or two while waiting for the results from your league, or even better, you can read an informative article which might help you choose the right players for your fantasy team.
Rosters
The rosters for each sport are consisted of 8 or 9 players, with the exception of golf where the roster has 6 players. In basketball a participant in each contest has to pick - point guard, shooting guard, small forward, power forward, center, another guard, another forward and a utility player � any position. There is a difference between rosters for NBA and College Basketball, as well as between NFL and College Football. In Golf, for example, it's pretty straightforward, all you need to do is select six players.