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DraftKings

Friends of mine have, and I like the idea.

Not doing any leagues this year. Just doing it all on my own on sites like this.

DOn't have to worry about drafts, injuries, or trades. Pick your guys each week.
 
Playoffs said:
Adam Schefter @AdamSchefter
Stat from @CSURAM88 that shows the state of the fantasy world: @DraftKings will spend more money this year on TV advertising than McDonalds.​


Anybody play these weekly fantasy games?
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Been playing FanDuel the last couple of years. Do most of my winning playing 1-on-1 or small 5-10 team leagues against friends, but winning any big money where there's hundreds of players is kinda like playing the lottery. You've got to basically pick all 9 players to score big like you have to pick 6 numbers to win the lottery, so overall I probably end up in the red.
 
Speedy said:
Been playing FanDuel the last couple of years. Do most of my winning playing 1-on-1 or small 5-10 team leagues against friends, but winning any big money where there's hundreds of players is kinda like playing the lottery. You've got to basically pick all 9 players to score big like you have to pick 6 numbers to win the lottery, so overall I probably end up in the red.
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I've done both FD and DK, and in both instances, it kind of depends on what you play. They both have large participation games (hundreds/thousands of entries) that are long odds and others that are - well, let's just say "better" odds. Typically the big money payoff games (spend $3 and win $100,000) will pay around 20 percent of the entrants with the vast majority of those ending up doubling or close to doubling their money. It's obviously very very top-weighted, and it doesn't take very long to get to those smaller payoffs. But both sites also have double up games and 50/50 games. In the double up's approx. 45 percent of the entrants exactly double their entry fee. In the 50/50's, half the field wins, but it's less than double. The exact return varies by the amount of entry fee, with the lower fees starting at 80 percent (win $4 on a $5 entry fee) to close to close to 90 percent when you get in the mid 3 and 4 figure entry fees. The return on 50/50's can also vary a bit from one site to another, so you might shop around a bit for a better return (although if you do find a site you like, be prepared to see one of the big 2 buy it up sometime down the road). In both the double-up games and the 50/50 games, all winners get the same payoff, so it's no better monetarily to finish first in a 50/50 of 100 people than it is to finish 49th or 50th.

The thing that bothers me most is the multi-entry games, where the same player can enter the same lineup numerous times. There's folks out there who put a lot of money into playing these games, and also into research and developing algorithms to determine the optimal lineups. I honestly don't know how successful they are, or how well the best of the algorithms do long term, but I know you can go into a contest where the entrant number is in the 4 digits, and literally see the same lineup entered by the same person 100 or more times. For those playing the $3-$5-$10 games, that seems a bit stacked against them. For those who are wealthy/dedicated/stupid enough to be playing triple digit entry fee games on a regular basis, well, they should be able to deal with whatever comes their way. My solution for the lower dollar contests (and some are as low as 25 cents) wouldn't necessarily be to limit entries, but limit lineups. That is to say, you could enter a particular contest as many times as you like, but you can't enter the same lineup more than one (or five or ten...) times. There could be sites out there that have that option, I don't know. Heck, maybe FD and/or DK have those, and I'mjust not aware of it - but if they do, there's not many of them, and they're not doing much to tell anyone about them. They do have some single entry games, but they're not real plentiful. The obvious problem with ever seeing this done on a wide-spread basis is that it's effectively telling your best customers to dial back on how much money they're pumping into your company.

Going back to the original point, those who are heavily into this stuff will tell you to stick to the 50/50's and double-ups to the tune of about 90 percent of your total entry fees. But that takes discipline, planning, and time, and most people looking to have fun with 20 or 30 bucks on a Sunday afternoon aren't going to do that.
 
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I play Fanduel for fun - meaning I don't spend much. I've won up to like $25 on a $2 game. I play $1, $2, or $5 games. I've also done the 50/50 games and that's ok but it's just not as exciting I guess because the payout for first or a much lower number is the same. It's like if they altered the lotto and you only had to match 3 numbers to win the biggest prize but that prize was $25 and not 25 million. Even though many, many, more people win - the excitement level drops and it's just not the same.

I don't have the stomach to gamble with even moderate sums of money. Even in the casino's you'll see me on the penny machines or nickel machines.
 
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