FanDuel Daily Fantasy Review

• Best Live Events
• Billions in Prize Money
• Beginner Contests
• Mobile App Design

Rating

4.88

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3-Point Check

1. Legal

   Legal across many states

2. Licensed

   Proven company over years

3. Safe

   Billions paid out in prize money

Deposits & Payouts

• Deposits & Payouts
• Major Credit Cards, PayPal, Banking
• Withdraw via Check or PayPal

Sign Up Bonus

$5 Free Game

$5 free real-money game

PROMO ACTIVATED Reveal Promo Code

FanDuel‘s daily fantasy product is well known and widely used in the United States. The unfortunate result is that the company may not have the exponential growth on the daily fantasy sports side of the business.   DraftKings is the only other true competitor at this point. Smaller sites like Monkey Knife Fight are in the space, but the number of registered users, contests, and prize pools don’t compare to the two leaders in the space. FanDuel has been at the forefront of innovation and design in the niche for the past 5 years.

FanDuel Promo Code

At this time, the best sign up bonus on FanDuel is a $5 free daily fantasy game. It’s not the most exciting offer, but it is Verified to be the highest offered by the company. It’s also free money and a chance to win free cash with no risk. Simply make a deposit and you can enter a free $5 DFS game. If you win, the money is yours to keep.

FanDuel Daily Fantasy Website and App

The FanDuel Fantasy website has been continuous since its inception in 2009. The FanDuel mobile app has grown over the years to include strategy, live games and more. FanDuel was the first service of its kind to offer a Daily Fantasy Sports game. The general idea is that you can bet on a single day’s worth of games instead of having to commit to an entire season. Each player has a salary and you have a salary cap under which you must operate.

FanDuel Sportsbook Website and App

The new FanDuel Sportsbok mobile app launched in New Jersey in September 2018 just in time for the NFL season. Due to restrictions on Sportsbook in most other states, the app can only be used in New Jersey. As other states are expected to legalize online Sportsbook in the near future, the app will grow accordingly. Pennsylvania sports betting is about to go live and we expect FanDuel Sportsbook to enter the market in June. We have written out a full list of our Pennsylvania Sportsbooks and reviews.

Registration Process

Registering for a FanDuel account will only take you a few moments. The steps to complete your registration are as follows:

• Enter your email address.
• Create a username.
• Create a password using a minimum of eight characters. Must include text, at least one number, at least one special symbol. Click submit
• At the next screen, click on continue.
• Choose your favorite sport. Click continue
• You will then be guided to the lobby. Click on the sports at the top of the page. It will give you a list of games that are available. Click continue
• You will be taken to a screen with the highest bonus available.
• The next screen will be a form for entering your credit card information.

Deposit Options

You can make a deposit into your DFS or Sportsbook account using either a major credit/debit card or PayPal. FanDuel accepts all major credit cards.

FanDuel Games

FanDuel games are all about the lineups. FanDuel offers the following game types:

Tournaments: These are the most popular games on FanDuel. There are a variety of different bet ranges and prize ranges in the tournaments. You can even bet more than one lineup.
Multipliers: In Multiplier contests, players will win 2x, 3x, 4x, or 5x their original buy-in.
Head-to-Head: These tournaments are winner take all between you and one other player.
50/50: Similar to a 2x multiplier, except 50% of the players win.

Games can be played as beginners, or in Friends Mode. When in Friends Mode, you and your friends set the parameters and design the contest.

Company History

It was a simple conversation had by five friends during the South by Southwest Interactive Festival back in 2009. Nigel Eccles, Lesley Eccles, Tom Griffiths, Roger Jones, and Chris Stafford. That was the day that saw the greatest changes in fantasy sports. The concept was immediately brought from Edinburgh, Scotland to the United States. FanDuel then set its corporate headquarters in New York City, New York.

The concept of Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) was first coined by Draft Sports Kings in 2007, two years before FanDuel came into being and five years before DraftKings joined the industry.

Initial investors came out of Tusk Venture Capital. Since going mainstream, investors have included Comcast, KKR, and the NBA.

In 2010, FanDuel held its first championship. The ten finalists, winners during the regular season, competed for a grand prize of $25,000 and an overall purse of $40,000.

Initial acquisitions included AlphaDraft and NumberFire. AlphaDraft was a smaller DFS company that merged seamlessly. NumberFire is a sports analytics firm that is allowed to operate as an independent entity even though they are part of the FanDuel Group. In June 2018, FanDuel was acquired by international bookmaking giant Paddy Power Betfair who now does business as the FanDuel Group.

As the popularity of DFS has grown, so has FanDuel. While there are a few smaller DFS companies, their primary competition is DraftKings. The two companies briefly sought a merger until the FCC clamped down and filed an injunction against them.

FanDuel has enjoyed annual growth of 41 percent. The company is currently valued at approximately $14.4 billion, with revenues over $265 million annually. They expect an initial public offering within the next two years.

The company itself only boasts about 400 employees to service the estimated six million players, with one million of those being paying users. As the company expands into Sportsbook and mobile Sportsbook, the revenue and membership should grow exponentially. In addition, other states are joining in legalizing Sportsbook for their populations. There is some degree of FanDuel presence in 41 states.

How FanDuel Contributed to the Advancement of Sports Betting Legalization

FanDuel has been at the forefront of the DFS industry since its inception. Since DFS was new and different from anything else available, it has rapidly grown in popularity. Although it was only legal in some states, the call for more widespread availability has brought the subject of legalization to legislative bodies in every state in one way or another.

2018 New Jersey Supreme Court Case

On Monday, May 14, 2018, the US Supreme court struck down the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA). This law had banned sports betting everywhere but the Casinos in Nevada. The 6-3 decision acknowledged both sides of the argument. The concept of legalization producing revenue for the individual states while at the same time weakening illegal betting operations could provide substantial revenue for those states involved.

The decision does not give us an umbrella of legalized sports betting across the country. It does mean that individual states can legalize and regulate Sports Betting operations as they see fit. New Jersey acted upon it immediately and was ready to start new operations through FanDuel’s Meadowlands operation as well as their mobile technology just before the first week of the NFL season.

Eighteen other states quickly began to introduce the appropriate legislation to bring legalized Sports Betting into their own state so they can benefit from the expected tax revenues. Ironically, while the NBA and MLB have advocated for legalized sports betting in general, both professional and collegiate leagues were opposed to New Jersey’s plans. Their reasoning is that they wanted to see the sports betting laws legal at a federal level as opposed to the current state-by-state basis.

The growth of Sports Betting across the country will not happen overnight. It is being compared to the recreational marijuana industry in that trial and error in those states who first legalized laid the groundwork for the other states that have since followed. The business of Sports Betting will be quite rapid at the state level but probably slow in growth for those states that will legalize it in the near future. For now, all eyes are on New Jersey.

FanDuel Enters Sports Betting in New Jersey

With the new laws and Supreme Court decision, FanDuel wasted no time making their presence known in the State of New Jersey.

Shortly before the first week of the NFL season in 2018, FanDuel made two huge strides in their business. First, they opened the doors to their first brick and mortar facility at the Meadowlands Racetrack, which is part of the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

While limited to only being available to those in New Jersey, FanDuel also released the FanDuel Mobile Sportsbook app. The app features bets on all United States sports, including professional football, soccer, baseball, boxing, golf, and motorsports. At the time of its inception, it is only legal to use by those physically present in New Jersey at the time of its use. The software is handled by their Sports Analytics branch, NumberFire.

Future of FanDuel Company

As legalization of SportsBook grows beyond New Jersey, FanDuel should see unprecedented growth. The popularity of DFS, in general, has grown across the country. With the PAPSA act formally struck down by the US Supreme Court, the doors are opened for other states who have previously classified DFS as illegal gambling to open their doors to FanDuel and their coffers to the expected tax revenues.

In the meantime, FanDuel’s growth is already apparent from the new SportsBook facility in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania that opened its doors in March 2019. As more states legalize SportsBook facilities and operations, FanDuel should remain at the forefront with its primary competitor, DraftKings.

Since its inception, and likely assisted by the initial advertising onslaught of the company itself, DFS has grown in popularity exponentially. We won’t really be able to see the real growth until DFS is legalized in more and more states.

FanDuel Timeline

7/21/2009: FanDuel was founded by Nigel Eccles, Lesley Eccles, Tom Griffiths, Rob Jones and Chris Stafford. It began as an offshoot of Hubdub, a site specializing in news prediction, following receipt of venture capital funding from Pentech Ventures and Scottish Enterprise.

2010: First FanDuel Fantasy Football Championship. First place was awarded $25,000 with a total prize pool of $40,000

July 2015: Acquired sports analytics company, NumberFire.

September 2015: Acquired AlphaDraft.

October 2015: New York Times reported that an employee of DraftKings accidentally released data prior to the state of the NFL week three games, and won $350,000 on the FanDuel website. It was later revealed that DraftKings employees had won $6 million playing on FanDuel. The scandal resulted in employees of DFS companies not being allowed to play at any of the DFS sites.

October 6, 2015: New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman opened an investigation

October 8, 2015: Class action lawsuit brought against both FanDuel and DraftKings alleging that laws had been broken in Kentucky, Massachusetts and New York. Further allegations of negligence, fraud, and misrepresentation were also brought.

November 13, 2015: Both FanDuel and DraftKings brought separate suits against Schneiderman for misreading New York Law and for bullying Daily Fantasy Sports companies.

December 2015: Both FanDuel and DraftKings banned from operating in New York until the legality of their operations could be determined.

January 2016: Schneiderman announces that he is pursuing restitution from both companies.

February 2016: Appeals Court rules that FanDuel and DraftKings can do business in New York until the Appellate Division hearing.

March 2016: FanDuel and DraftKings settled out of court and shutter their DFS business in New York state.

August 2016: New York Governor Cuomo signs a new law excluding DFS from the definition of illegal gambling.

November 2016: FanDuel and DraftKings announce intention to merge.

June 2017: FCC files preliminary injunction stating that a merger between the two DFS giants would create a monopoly.

September 2017: FanDuel settles with Massachusetts Attorney General over allegations of deceptive practices. The settlement amount was $1.3 million.

May 2018: FanDuel was acquired by Paddy Power Betfair. Together, the company is now known as the FanDuel group.

September 2018: FanDuel launches mobile Sportsbook app in New Jersey. Also opens the first brick-and-mortar Sportsbook facility at Meadowlands in New Jersey. Statements from the new Head of Product, speak to their new format as being focused on the casual player. The Guru program can quickly get new players up to speed on how to play.

October 2018: New York Supreme Court overturned the August 2016 laws stating that DFS was not gambling in a split decision. The law now states that DFS is illegal gambling but adds that it is not prosecutable.

November 2018: Both sides file appeals.

January 15, 2019: Governor Cuomo announces plans to legalize Sportsbook in New York as part of the budget.

March 15, 2019: FanDuel opens Sportsbook in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can you win money playing FanDuel?

A: FanDuel provides a service for those who wish to bet on fantasy sports without committing to an entire season. With the right knowledge and strategy, you can win money there.

Q: Is FanDuel Legal?

A: FanDuel is legal in 41 states, and still illegal in nine states. You can read more on our Is FanDuel Legal? page.

Q: Can you play for free on FanDuel?

A: There is a free Fantasy Football single entry contest.

Q:Who owns FanDuel?

A: FanDuel is owned by Paddy Power Betfair, an international bookmaking operation.

Q: How old do you have to be to play on FanDuel?

A: You have to be over the age of 18 in most states, over 21 in others.

Q: Are there Beginner programs on FanDuel?

A: There are a number of beginner tournaments on FanDuel.