DraftDay Review
DraftDay is one of the leading US fantasy sports sites. On the website players can participate in real money daily fantasy sports contests. Unlike traditional fantasy sports in daily fantasy sports, the players don't have to wait for the end of the season, instead they select a roster of players and their score is based on those players' performance on a particular game-day (in some cases a whole week is taken into consideration). The eventual cash prize for the participants is based on the score. At DraftDay, players can participate in daily fantasy leagues of baseball (MLB), hockey (NHL), football (NFL and College football), basketball (NBA) and golf (PGA). According to the UIGEA, passed by the federal government of the USA, fantasy sports are 100% and players from the USA can play for real money. Citizens of Louisiana, Montana, Iowa, Arizona, Puerto Rico, Vermont and Washington are exception and they are only allowed to play the free contests. Canadians are also allowed to play for real money, with the exception of the citizens of Quebec.
Getting started
Opening a DraftDay account is pretty simple. All you need to do is visit their website, click on the "Sign Up" button and provide all the requested information. Afterwards, you will receive a confirmation email to the email address you have provided. All you need to do is click on the activation link in the email and set your password. Of course, you'd probably want to play real money fantasy sports and, therefore, you will need to select the "Deposit" link. There are two deposit method accepted at DraftDay- credit/debit card and PayPal. The website accepts all the major credit cards- Visa, MasterCard and American Express and if you don't want to use your credit card, you can make a deposit via PayPal. The minimum amount of money that you can deposit is $10 and the maximum is $1000.
Entry fees and prizes
The entry fees for a fantasy sports league may vary and can be as low as $1, or as much as $200. The same goes for the pay-outs. Generally, the amount of the prize for the winners depends on the number of participants and the amount of the entry fee. If two participants are tied, they both get half of the prize. If, for example, there is a 1st and a 2nd prize and two players are tied, the total sum of the 1st and the 2nd prize is divided and each of them gets half.
Withdrawals
As for the prizes, they get deposited to the winners' accounts as soon as the games (that is, the games in which players who are part of the fantasy teams played) are over and everything is official. That usually happens on match-day, but sometimes you may need to wait until the next day. As soon as a player receives money on his DraftDay account, he can withdraw them, either via PayPal or via check. PayPal withdrawals go faster and the minimum withdrawal amount is $20.
Types of games
DrafDay offers many game types. The Standard Games can start only if there are a certain number of participants. If that number's not met, then the game gets cancelled and each of the players gets their money back. Unlike Standard Games, the Guaranteed Games will always start, no matter of that number of participants. In the Live Draft game, there is also a required number of participants. As soon as that number of participants has paid the entry fee the draft will start.
In Fifty-Fifty half of all the players get a part of the prize pool. In target games, each team needs to get a certain amount of points. All the teams that reach the target, get an equal portion of the prize. There is no limit on the amount of games that a participant can enter, at the same time, or in total. In the so-called multi-entry games a player can enter the same competition twice or more times, with a different roster. If you are uncertain about which players you want to draft, by clicking on their names while in the draft process, you can get additional information on their statistics and fantasy scores. Each player can keep track of his previous drafts and transactions from his profile.
Bonuses and promotions
DraftDay offers various promotions and bonuses to new players as well as fantasy sports 'veterans'. The welcome bonus at DraftDay is 100% and up to $250. By referring a friend to DraftDay, both of you have a chance of playing a free 1-on-1 game, where the winner earns $5. Just like the 'refer a friend' option at many other fantasy sports sites, only more fun. The more friends you invite, the more chances you have of winning $5, since you get to play 1-on-1 with each new friend that you invite.
In the DraftDay Rapid Fire, your goal is to predict which player will score more fantasy points on that day. You get five pairs of players and you need to get them all correctly if you want to win. The Perfect Lineup is a no-entry-fee NHL competition which runs throughout the regular season. The best 25 Lineups win cash prizes. Each bonus that you earn is pending and will be deposited into your account at a rate of 4% of the money you play with. That means that each time you pay $10 in entry fee, you receive $0.40 of one of your bonuses. If you have more than one pending bonus you will get money released to your account for each of them. So, if you have 3 pending bonuses, you will get $1.2 for $10.
Scoring
The scoring system at DraftDay is pretty straightforward. At football you get points for offense, points for defense and points for kicking. All of the touchdowns are worth 6 pts, both in offense and in defense. If the defense allows 0 points then you get 10 pts, but if the defense allows 35 or more points, you will lose 4 points. In kicking, you get 3 points for each field goal made. In basketball, steals and blocks are worth 2 points each. You also get 2 points if your player scores a double-double. You lose half a point for each turnover. In hockey, a goal is worth 3 pts.