Fansided

The Truth Behind Daily Fantasy Leagues

By Andrew Evemy

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If you have not seen the DraftKings and FanDuel commercials you are probably living under a rock, and even then they will be at your rock soon to put some advertising on it.

But something about those commercials put me off. I just wanted to punch every single person in those commercials straight in the face. But it wasn’t just that everyone in those commercials needed a good bop on the head, there was something more to it. Why was I at home working and, at first glance, it appears that the biggest stress these people had to deal with was whether or not they were going to take home $1,000,000 or $500,000?

The answer is simple. We, the few fantasy football players that are actually sports fans, are going up against the gambling elite. These masterminds of numbers and statistics are stepping up their game this year to ensure first place is theirs. How do you compete with with the elite gamblers of the world? Well, you don’t.

Rotogringders is a stats site for fantasy players. According to them, Saahil Sud is the top ranked fantasy player to date. Sud has developed his own program that organizes and produces lineups based on mathematical statistics. For example, if there is a sleeper player that hardly anyone has picked, Sud will be aware of him. After his database gives him a list of thousands of possible lineups, he can submit upwards of 1,000 total entries during a single week in the NFL season. Of course, this trumps my lousy 10 entries.

These one week fantasy leagues are truly based on luck for those of us that do not wish to spend more than $20 a week on entries. I will admit, that even after reading up on all the information on how I will never win the top prize, I will still play FanDuel each week. There is one truth behind all the advertisements, it is an adrenaline rush. I have found myself excited to even win $4 on a $2 entry. The truth is, we “rookie” level daily fantasy players are statistically not going to beat the avid player. According to Rotogrinders, here is how the entries are spread out:

1% – Career Grinders: Monthly Volume = $100k+

4% – Semi-Pro Grinders and “Whales”: Monthly Volume = $2k – $100k

45% – Enthusiastic Casual Player: Monthly Volume = $100 – $2k

50% – Casual Player: Monthly Volume = Less than $100

I am not advocating that FanDuel and DraftKings set out to cater to the elite %1. But there is a certain level of awareness that everyone should have when gambling. There are daily contests that only allow one entry per person, and FanDuel has even lowered the number of entries in certain tournaments. However, lowering the number of entries from unlimited to 50 does not do much for those of us who only want to enter five lineups.

Even with the annoyance at the number of advertisements that flood us everyday, it would appear that daily fantasy leagues are here to stay. According to FanDuel.com there are benchmark points that players should shoot for to win at least some money. So there is still something for us “casual players” to know where we need to be.

Next: Week 4 NFL FanDuel Picks

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