DraftKings Daily Fantasy Sports Review
DraftKings Fantasy is the most comprehensive fantasy sports site on the market, with a seemingly endless variety of ways to enhance the gameday experience and compete for real-money prizes.
As the industry leader in fantasy sports, DraftKings is uniquely equipped with the experience and funding needed to guarantee million-dollar prize pools, experiment with new contest types, and run a multi-faceted rewards program.
DraftKings Fantasy
- Legal In Most States
- $500 New Customer Bonus
- Free Contest Entry
Pros
Million Dollar ContestsFree Handicapping PoolsExcellent Loyalty ProgramCons
Lots Of Sharp Players25x Bonus RolloverBut, as compelling a case as DraftKings makes for fans looking for a new fantasy sports home, it’s not the perfect DFS app for everyone. DraftKings’ success in daily fantasy is no fluke, but that has resulted in some tradeoffs that fans should be aware of before they sign up.
The remainder of this DraftKings Fantasy review will cover its DFS offerings in detail to help readers decide if this is the best option for them. But first, here’s the bird’s eye view of what the DraftKings Daily Fantasy app offers:
- Daily fantasy contests for the NFL, college football, MLB, NBA, college basketball, NHL, golf, tennis, NASCAR, Formula 1, soccer, MMA, CFL, EuroLeague, AUSFL, AFL, League of Legends, CS:GO, Rocket League, COD, iRacing, Dota 2, Valorant, and simulated Madden games
- Frequent “Millionaire Maker” contests with first-place payouts of $1 million
- Beginners only contests, heads-up contests, double-up contests, satellites to live events, and variations of each
- Customers in states with legal online sports betting also have access to DraftKings Sportsbook through a shared account and wallet
- DraftKings Pick6 pick ’em contests in which fans predict “more” or “less” on stats like passing yards and three-pointers
Which States Is DraftKings DFS Legal In?
| States 1 | States 2 |
|---|---|
| Alabama | Missouri |
| Alaska | Nebraska |
| Arizona | New Hampshire |
| Arkansas | New Jersey |
| California | New Mexico |
| Colorado | New York |
| Connecticut | North Carolina |
| Delaware | North Dakota |
| Florida | Ohio |
| Georgia | Oklahoma |
| Illinois | Pennsylvania |
| Indiana | Rhode Island |
| Iowa | South Carolina |
| Kansas | South Dakota |
| Kentucky | Tennessee |
| Louisiana | Texas |
| Maine | Utah |
| Maryland | Vermont |
| Massachusetts | Virginia |
| Michigan | West Virginia |
| Minnesota | Wisconsin |
| Mississippi | Wyoming |
DraftKings DFS Promo Code
| Title | Details |
|---|---|
DraftKings Fantasy Promo Code | Not Needed |
| Welcome Offer | One Free Entry + 20% up to $500 on First Deposit |
| How to Qualify |
|
| Clearing Requirements | $1 in bonus funds unlocked for every $25 paid in entry fees |
DraftKings DFS Bonus
Free Entry + 20% up to $500 Welcome Bonus
DraftKings offers all new customers a free ticket entry into a $3 contest plus a 20% first deposit match bonus worth up to $500. New users can claim this offer by signing up for an account and making a first deposit of at least $5.
Players do not need a DraftKings promo code to claim this offer; DK issues its welcome bonus to all new customers.
The DraftKings Fantasy bonus adds 20% to each new customer’s first deposit. For example, a new user who deposits $100 will receive an extra $20, while a $500 deposit would get that customer an extra $100. Players who deposit $2,500 or more max out the offer and receive $500 in bonus funds.
DraftKings issues the bonus as site credit, and players release the bonus in increments by participating in real money contests. Customers cannot withdraw the bonus, but they may withdraw anything they win by using it to enter real-money contests.
Every $25 customers spend on entry fees unlocks $1 of bonus money until they have cleared the entire amount.
Ongoing promotions for existing customers are hit-or-miss, but DraftKings’ high-value Dynasty Rewards loyalty program does a lot of the heavy lifting in that regard.
How DraftKings DFS Works
The DraftKings website and mobile apps (available for iOS and Android) are pretty intuitive.
After logging in and making a deposit, users visit the main contest lobby. Here, players can browse open contests, manage their accounts, and find new games to enter.
The lobby uses a simple menu system to organize the different types of contests. Players can select any menu item along the left side of the screen to switch between guaranteed tournaments, qualifiers, head-to-head matchups, and so on. There’s also an option to filter the contests by sport. The advanced filters feature allows users to narrow down the list of upcoming competitions by time, entry fee, and the number of entrants.
Choose any detailed contest to view that contest’s details. The detail screen shows you all the relevant information such as the number of registered players, prize structure, which games each contest covers, and more.
Standard contests at DraftKings.com comes with a virtual salary cap of $50,000. Each player comes with an associated cost related to that player’s overall perceived strength. The league stars can cost upwards of $9,000, while cheaper players may cost a couple thousand dollars. In almost every contest, the goal is to draft the best team possible without exceeding the $50,000 salary cap.
While drafting teams, users can select an individual athlete’s name for statistical data, a brief bio, and recent news involving that athlete. For example, here’s what one would have seen when viewing Patrick Mahomes’ information.
DraftKings DFS Contests
The various types of contests at DraftKings operate under the basic premise of building a roster and scoring fantasy points. Where they differ is in the details, such as how they issue payouts and the number of contestants in each match. All contests cover a limited slate of games, usually a single day or week’s worth of action.
A 50/50 contest awards roughly double the buyin to the top half of entrants by score. It doesn’t matter how well players score, as long as they accumulate enough points to finish in the top half.
Arcade contests intend to simplify daily fantasy and appeal more to casual players. Players choose fewer athletes in arcade mode, often with no position requirements. Arcade contests also tend to cover fewer games for faster results and payouts.
DraftKings beginners only contests are open exclusively to players who have participated in 50 or fewer games in that specific sport.DraftKings beginners only contests are open exclusively to players who have participated in 50 or fewer contests in that specific sport. If you have played 25 NFL contests, for example, you can enter beginners only NFL contests even if you have played in 100 MBL contests.
Dark Horse contests are similar to noisemaker games, but contestants select one Dark Horse athlete to score 1.5x fantasy points. The Dark Horse pick costs more to draft, but it must have a base UTIL salary of $7,500 or less.
Showdown contests run as salary cap games with a unique lineup format: players pick one team captain and fill five flex spots. The team captain earns 1.5x as many DFS points but also costs 1.5x as much salary. Contestants can fill the five flex slots with athletes from any position.
Fantasy Madden streams offer DFS NFL year-round by simulating Madden NFL games. Contestants draft their lineups and then watch a live stream on YouTube as the computer runs CPU vs. CPU Madden NFL games to produce random results.
Guarantees are contests in which DraftKings.com promises a minimum prize pool even if not enough players join to fill the event. These are popular because entrants always know they will compete for at least a certain amount of money. Guarantees range in size from a couple hundred dollars to more than a million dollars.
A head-to-head matchup pits two players against one another for a winner-take-all payout of roughly double their buyin. H2H contests are attractive because customers don’t have to compete against a massive field of opponents for a chance to win money.
Entry fees for head-to-head contests range from $1 to $5300.
Customers can create private DraftKings Leagues to play with their friends all season long. Players draft new teams every week, and the winners receive instant payouts, giving everyone a new chance to win every week. League members can take a week off any time because DraftKings only collects entry fees when players enter that week’s contest.
Lowball contests involve drafting a team that scores the fewest fantasy points possible.
Multipliers are like 50/50s except they return 3x to 10x each user’s original entry fee as prizes. A 3x multiplier pays out 3x the buyin fee to the top third of the field. A 10x multiplier pays 10x the buyin fee to the top 10% of the field.
Flash draft contests are the daily fantasy equivalent of in-play betting. Flash drafts cover a single game and have players draft new lineups multiple times throughout the game.
In each drafting round, contestants have 15 seconds to pick one athlete from the three presented options with no salary cap considerations. Each lineup scores points for one period of the game, and the more points a contestant scores, the higher they move up the leaderboard for a payout.
Noisemaker contests work like standard games, except each contestant selects one athlete to fill the noisemaker position. Noisemakers score 1.5x fantasy points, but they cost more salary to draft.
Qualifiers, also known as satellites, award entry to bigger tournaments instead of cash. For example, a player may want to compete in Sunday’s $400,000 guarantee but doesn’t want to risk $200. Instead, they could play in a $10 qualifier to compete for a free seat in the Sunday $400K.
Step contests are small, 6-10 player tournaments that award entry to the next level up. For example, Step 1 tournaments cost $2 and award entries to step 2 tournaments. If a player makes it all the way to step 4 and wins, they get $200.
Players can buy into step tournaments at any level. They can start at the bottom for $2 or head straight to step 4 for $88. Step tournaments also offer consolation prizes on the way up, such as tickets to enter a step at the same level or one step down.
In a significant departure from its usual fantasy offerings, DraftKings introduced Super Bowl Squares ahead of the last Super Bowl. Fans may have seen squares played at Super Bowl parties, and the idea here is almost the same.
In DraftKings Squares, each player receives a blank 10×10 grid with the top row representing one team and the left column representing the other. Each player selects one box from the grid before the Big Game begins.
After the kickoff, DraftKings randomly assigns the numbers 0-9 to the top row and left column. At the end of each quarter, the last digit of each team’s score is plotted on the grid. Whoever holds that square wins a prize.
Example: The final score at the end of the first quarter is Patriots 10, Rams 7. That would correspond to the coordinates 0-7 on each player’s grid. Anyone who happened to pick that box at the beginning of the game would win a cash prize.
Super Bowl squares is 100% luck because players select their square before DraftKings randomly assigns numbers to the grid, but it is free to play.
Here’s how the grid looks after making a pick but before the numbers are assigned:
Tier contests do away with the salary cap altogether and instead place all available athletes into tiers based on their perceived value. Players build their lineup by selecting one athlete from each tier, and each lineup must contain players from at least two different teams.
For players who don’t like the stress of building an effective lineup under salary limitations, DraftKings Tiers just might be the answer. Picking from pools of players is a simpler but still strategic experience.
Major DraftKings Fantasy Sports Events
Every season, DraftKings hosts at least one major event for each sport. The NFL has its own championship event; the MLB has another one, and so on. These events are massive and grow larger every year. In some cases, players can win as much as a million dollars if they finish first.
Each sport’s season finale changes a little each year, but they all provide massive prizes for those who perform well. Additionally, DraftKings often adds new special events to the lineup. Below are recaps of a handful of major DraftKings contests held in recent times.
DraftKings DFS Deposit Options
Expert Opinion: Is DraftKings DFS Legit?
Choosing a daily fantasy site ultimately comes down to choosing between DraftKings and FanDuel. There are other options out there, but the Big Two are the best bets for most mainstream sports fans.
Both are excellent fantasy operators, but DraftKings gets the nudge due to its software, larger prize pools, and broader selection of sports, including esports.
DraftKings Daily Fantasy Sports FAQ
Mike Murphy is the founder of BettingUSA.com and has over 10 years of experience in the legal gambling industry. A regular attendee of industry trade shows and conferences, Mike is a strong proponent in the idea of a well regulated online betting industry.