FanDuel Picks Review (CLOSED)
NOTICE: FanDuel Picks CLOSED permanently in March 2026. If you’re interested in over/under-style pick’em contests, we recommend Underdog Sports or the ParlayPlay app. Both are reputable alternatives and operate in most states. In fact, both offer broader league coverage and pick’em categories than FanDuel Picks ever did at its peak.
FanDuel Picks was a fantasy pickโem app from FanDuel that replaced complicated, time-intensive salary cap contests with simple โmoreโ or โlessโ predictions on stat totals like passing yards, three-pointers, and strikeouts.
In short, the FanDuel Picks app was designed for casual fans who want fast action without hours of research. FanDuel pickโem contests operated under daily fantasy regulations but delivered a familiar, parlay-like experience to fans, particularly those in states that did not yet have legal online sports betting.
Continue below to read our full (but no longer updated) FanDuel Picks review to see how we rated it when it was still operational.
FanDuel Picks Alternatives:
Play $5, Get $50 in Bonus EntriesUnderdog Sports Promo Code: BETUSA
Must be 18+ (19+ in AL, NE; 19+ in CO for some games; 21+ in AZ, MA, and VA) and present in a state where Underdog Fantasy operates. Terms apply. Concerned with your play? Call 1-800-MY-RESET or 1-800-GAMBLER or visit www.ncpgambling.org. NY: Call the 24/7 HOPEline at 1-877-8-HOPENY or Text HOPENY (467369).
Free Entry + $100 Deposit BonusParlayPlay Promo Code: BUSA
18/21+, T&Cs Apply. Welcome offer is for players who make their first successful deposit to ParlayPlay. Following the deposit, you receive promo entry(s) that matches the deposit amount up to $100. The promo entry can only be used to enter up to 4-pick More/Less contests. If you lose the promo entry, your account balance is not impacted. The deposit promo entry(s) must be used within 7 days of deposit. After 7 days the free entry will expire. If you have concerns about managing your play on ParlayPlay or anywhere else, or if youโre concerned about a family member or friend, the National Council on Problem Gambling offers support through telephone or text. They can be reached confidentially (24-hours a day) at 1-800-522-4700. Or contacted on their website at https://www.ncpgambling.org/ or through chat at ncpgambling.org/chat.
$200 in No Sweat Tokens + A Free PicksBetr Picks Promo Code: USGAMLING
Must be 21+ and located in a jurisdiction where Betr Picks operates. Product offering may vary by jurisdiction. T&Cs apply. For more details, please visit betr.app. Concerned about your play? Call the NCPG at 1-800-522-4700.
$100 First Entry RefundBoom Sports Promo Code: BUSA
Users must be 18+ years of age to play and deposit (19+ in Nebraska). T&Cs Apply. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. All users must have only 1 account. If a user is found to be less than 18 years old, their account will be banned and all their entries will be canceled and refunded. If a user is found to have more than 1 account, they will be subject to a ban at Boomโs discretion.
21+ to Play, T&Cs Apply. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER
Pros
Operated by an established, trusted brand Polished, intuitive, and stable app Above-average welcome bonusCons
Limited state availability Mediocre customer support Limited to major pro and college sportsFanDuel Picks States
FanDuel Picks Promo Code
Note: The FanDuel Picks promo code is no longer valid due to the app’s permanent closure. See our fantasy pick’em bonuses page for alternative offers from today’s highest-rated DFS apps.
| Title | Details |
|---|---|
FanDuel Picks Promo Code | Not Needed |
| Welcome Offer | Play $5, Get $25 in Bonus Funds |
| Playthrough Requirement | 1x on bonus amount; play through the bonus one time to withdraw winnings |
| Eligibility | 18+ (19+ in AL); Located in a state where FanDuel Picks operates; new customers only |
FanDuel Picks Bonus
Before it closed, FanDuel Picks offered a straightforward bonus for all new users who:
- Signed up for a FanDuel Picks account
- Deposited $5 or more
- Entered a $5+ pickโem contest
In return, customers received $25 in bonus funds. The FanDuel Picks bonus was non-withdrawable, but you could use it to enter paid contests that pay cash prizes.
Customers had seven days to play through the bonus one time. Any unused bonus funds expired seven days after receipt.
Overall, the FanDuel Picks offer compared well to other fantasy sports bonuses and lacked any real downsides or gotchas.
Other FanDuel Picks Promos
FanDuel Picks offered regular promotions for new and existing users. Typically, FanDuel Picks introduced new promos to coincide with the major professional sports seasons, like baseball-themed offers during the MLB season, football promos during the NFL season, etc.
For example, FanDuelโs Safety Net series consisted of two recurring football-focused promos, one for college football and one for the NFL:
- Safety Net Saturday: Customers received up to $50 in picks bonuses if they sustained a net loss on their college football lineups.
- Safety Net Sunday: Customers received up to $50 in picks bonuses if they were down after Sundayโs NFL slates.
FanDuel Picks Refer-a-Friend Program
The FanDuel Picks referral program offered $50 in bonuses for every friend you referred, provided they:
- Did not have an existing account with any FanDuel product (Picks, Sportsbook, DFS, etc.)
- Used your custom link to download the FanDuel Picks app
- Entered your username when asked for it during registration
- Made a first deposit
- Played at least $5 of entries (using cash, not bonuses) within thirty days of being referred
On the registration page, your friends would see a place to input your username to ensure you received credit for referring them:

Once your referral registered and spent at least $5, you received $50 in picks bonuses within 72 hours. The referral bonus was non-withdrawable, but you could use it to enter paid contests and win withdrawable cash.
You referred your friends by logging in to the FanDuel Picks app, hitting the โEarn Bonusโ button at the bottom of the screen, and sharing your unique link with anyone you wanted to refer.
How FanDuel Picks Worked
Participating in FanDuel Pickโem contests felt like placing over/under wagers, except they were designed to comply with daily fantasy rules and were legal in most of the states that had not yet legalized online sports betting.
Each FanDuel Picks contest followed a similar progression:
- Choose your athletes: First, you assembled a lineup of three to six athletes from the available slate of upcoming games. The more athletes you included, the bigger the potential payout.
- Pick โmoreโ or โlessโ: FanDuel provided a projected stat total for each athlete (e.g., 250.5 passing yards or 5.5 strikeouts), and your task was to predict whether their actual performances would be โmoreโ or โless.โ
- Submit your picks: After making your selections, you would choose an entry fee and submit your lineup. Then, FanDuel automatically placed your lineup into contests with other players with the same number of picks.
Once you submitted your lineup, there were two ways to win real-money payouts:
- Perfect Lineup: As you constructed your lineup, FanDuel displayed your payout multiplier, which was the guaranteed minimum payout if you got every prediction correct. The payout multiplier varied based on the number and difficulty of your predictions.
- Most Correct Picks: If you did not get every pick correct, you might still win money. Each contestโs prize pool was automatically split among the lineups with the most correct entries.
To understand how payouts worked in practice, here are a couple of examples:
- Your lineup got 5/6 predictions correct, and nobody in your group submitted a perfect lineup: You split the prize pool with anyone else who also got 5/6 predictions correct.
- Your lineup got 6/6 predictions correct: You won the guaranteed payout multiplier that FanDuel displayed when you were building that lineup. It did not matter how many other entrants also submitted perfect lineups: you received the guaranteed multiplier payout at a minimum.
Note: If you submitted a perfect lineup, and your portion of the contestโs prize pool was bigger than the guaranteed multiplier, you won the larger amount.
Mild vs Spicy Projections
FanDuel Picks gave fans a degree of control over their risk-reward ratio by sprinkling in โSpicyโ and โMildโ projections throughout each slate.
- Mild Projections: The green pepper icon indicated projections that were easier to predict correctly. However, they contributed to a lower overall payout multiplier for your lineup.
- Spicy Projections: The red pepper icon indicated more aggressive, higher-risk projections. Spicy projections were harder to hit but significantly boosted your lineupโs payout multiplier.
For example, imagine a quarterbackโs โfairโ projected passing yards total is 250.5 yards. A spicy projection might increase the total to 275.5 yards, while a mild projection might decrease the total to 225.5 yards.
Tip: You could experiment with different combinations of mild and spicy picks to improve your expected value without too much effort. You did not need every selection to be spicy to qualify for the maximum 1,000x payout. For example, I once built a lineup consisting of six spicy picks with a 1,000x payout multiplier. Swapping one spicy pick for a neutral selection resulted in no change to the payout multiplier but made my prediction significantly easier. Even after switching out an additional spicy pick, the lineup still offered a sizeable 793x multiplier.
FanDuel Picks App Review
Note: To clear up any confusion, FanDuel Picks was a standalone app, distinct from FanDuel Sportsbook and FanDuel DFS. However, existing FanDuel customers could log in with their existing account information.
FanDuel clearly leveraged its experience in other verticals to deliver a clean, snappy, and functional fantasy pickโem app. If you had experience with FanDuelโs other products, you already knew what to expect.
It was a somewhat simplistic app compared to some of the more established fantasy pickโem operators (like PrizePicks and Underdog Fantasy), but the upside was that there was minimal learning curve. If you can follow an NFL game, you could navigate the FanDuel Picks app without issue.
Highlights
- Live Tracking: FanDuel provided live updates on your predictions as each game progressed. You could see where your lineup stood at any given time, which enhanced the fun factor and drama.
- Mild vs. Spicy: The โspicinessโ factor (mild or spicy picks) offered an intuitive way for users to adjust how much they wanted to weigh risk versus reward.
- App Performance: The FanDuel Picks app loaded quickly, and navigation was smooth. Finding and locking in picks felt straightforward. None of this was a surprise โ FanDuel had been refining its mobile offerings for nearly two decades by the time it launched Picks.
Areas for Improvement
- Limited Variety: The FanDuel Picks app focused primarily on straightforward props for the major US professional and college sports. If you wanted many niche prop-style options and a wide range of sports, you might have found FanDuel Picks underwhelming.
- Not Many Features: Compared to its established fantasy pickโem competitors, FanDuel lacked features and varied game types. However, itโs also still early. Had FanDuel Picks added more props, sports, and contest types, competitors like PrizePicks and Underdog Fantasy would have had to work hard to stay ahead.
FanDuel Picks Deposit Methods
FanDuel Picks Customer Support
Customer support at FanDuel Picks was about on par with any company of FanDuelโs size, meaning it was OK but not great. Contact methods included:
- Private message on Facebook
- Direct message on X
- Live chat
FanDuel Picks would eventually answer any questions you had, but it could be a process if your question wasn’t easily answered by an FAQ page somewhere in the knowledge base.
The only way to speak to a human in real-time was through the live chat option, which began with an automated chatbot that attempted to answer questions upfront.
Notably, launching a live chat session began with the chatbot asking the user to select which FanDuel product they needed help with (fantasy, sportsbook, etc.), but Picks was not an option. If you manually typed in โPicksโ or โFanDuel Picks,โ the bot just repeated the question:

This was a minor issue, but it was an annoying way to start a customer support inquiry. Fortunately, the bot was quick to hand queries off to human agents. In my experience, FanDuelโs live support personnel were knowledgeable and answered Picks-related questions quickly.
FanDuel Picks Responsible Gambling
FanDuel Picks supported responsible play via an educational hub and in-app limits.
Fans could log in to the FanDuel Picks app, open the โsettingsโ menu, and select the โPlaywell hubโ for information, resources, and tools.
Within the responsible play section, users could set daily, weekly, and monthly limits on the following:
- Deposit amount
- Losses
- Amount spent on contest entries
- Number of contests entered
Users could also set deposit and contest entry alerts, a maximum entry fee, and a daily time limit.
Additionally, the FanDuel Picks app offered two self-exclusion tools:
- Timeout: Disable your account for a period ranging from 3 to 365 days
- Voluntary Self-Exclusion:
FanDuel Picks FAQ
Expert Opinion: Was FanDuel Picks Legit?
FanDuel Picks was a legitimate daily fantasy sports site, backed by FanDuelโs longstanding reputation in the regulated DFS and sports betting markets.
Critically, FanDuel Picks only operated in states where it had legal standing to do so. That made FanDuelโs pickโem contests a viable alternative in states without legal online sports betting.
That said, FanDuel Picks wasn’t perfect for everyone. Its limited contest types and sports coverage left some fans wanting more. However, FanDuel Picks was a strong fit for fans who like quick, casual predictions for real money. The permanent closure of FanDuel Picks in early 2026 makes this discussion point moot. See our recommendations at the top of this page for the best alternatives.








