Underdog Fantasy Review

Sports fans who loathe the shark-infested waters of daily salary cap contests or love season-long fantasy but lack the time to manage their lineups every week should consider Underdog Fantasy.

Underdog Fantasy’s value proposition is minimizing the time and effort required for fans to have some skin in the game while still providing a healthy sense of competition.

To that end, Underdog Fantasy offers simplified best ball games, single-slate snake draft contests, and straightforward “higher or lower” pick’em games that pay up to 100x to customers who make accurate player prop predictions.

Continue below for BettingUSA’s comprehensive Underdog Fantasy review. Below, we discuss how Underdog Fantasy works, where it excels, where it needs to improve, and our overall thoughts after extensive hands-on testing.

Underdog Fantasy
$100 Deposit Bonus Last verified on April 27, 2024 18/21+, T&Cs apply. Concerned with your play? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit www.ncpgambling.org; AZ: 1-800-NEXT-STEP (1-800-639-8783) or text NEXT-STEP to 53342; NY: Call the 24/7 HOPE line at 1-877-8-HOPENY or Text HOPENY (467369) Learn more about Underdog Contests and how to identify highly experienced players at www.underdogfantasy.com/rules; Learn more about average results at www.underdogfantasy.com/average-results.
Underdog Fantasy Promo Code: BETUSA
  • Offers Pick'em and Draft Contests
  • Predict Athletes' Stats for Money
  • Available in Most States
Get Bonus

Pros

Intuitive best ball formatsSimple pick’em gamesEarn rake back rewardsRefer-a-friend bonuses

Cons

Lacks salary cap contests
Bonuses and Promos
Deposits and Withdrawals
User Interface
Contest types

It is not the perfect fantasy app for everyone, but Underdog Fantasy concentrates its efforts on a few key strengths to make it an easy choice for some players. One need only ask Twitter for best ball recommendations to see Underdog may actually be the top dog, at least in certain fantasy sports categories.

Underdog Fantasy is also a prominent operator in the pick’em fantasy space. Fans who prefer fast, straightforward action can enter Underdog Fantasy’s pick’em contests to make higher/lower predictions on athletes’ statistical projections for real-money payouts.

Underdog Fantasy doesn’t do it all, but what it does do, it executes very well. Former DRAFT players who enjoyed the best ball concept will be happy to know that its founder, Jeremy Levine, is also the man behind Underdog Fantasy.

A pleasing interface and lightweight mobile app wrap the concept into a pretty package that makes it easy for newbies and vets alike to get straight to the action.

Underdog Fantasy Promo Code: BETUSA

Underdog Fantasy$100 Deposit BonusUnderdog Fantasy Promo Code: BETUSA Get Bonus
TitleDetails

Underdog Fantasy Promo Code

BETUSA
Welcome Bonus100% up to $100 on first deposit
TermsWithdrawable after 1x rollover
EligibilityNew customers 18/21+

Underdog Fantasy Bonus Offer

New Underdog Fantasy customers can claim a 100% bonus worth up to $100 on their first deposit with the Underdog Fantasy promo code BETUSA.

The welcome bonus is a simple first deposit match offer: any amount new users deposit, Underdog matches for up to $100 in bonus funds. It’s an excellent deal because it comes with a simple 1x rollover on the deposit plus bonus amount before withdrawal.

For example, if a new user registers and makes a $50 deposit, they will receive $50 in bonus cash. After the player enters $100 worth of contests, the bonus converts to withdrawable cash.

Claim Your 100% Deposit Bonus Today at:
www.underdogfantasy.com
Use the UnderDog Fantasy promo code BETUSA

Underdog Fantasy Promotions

Fans can follow Underdog Fantasy on social media for updates on the latest promotions, but it’s not a promo-heavy operator.

However, Underdog Fantasy has an underappreciated rakeback rewards scheme called the Gladiator Program. Customers who enter a minimum number of paid contests in a week qualify for 10% to 50% rake back paid as bonus funds.

Note: Rake is how fantasy sports sites make money. It’s the difference between the total value of entry fees paid into a contest and prizes issued to entrants. For example, a $20 contest with five entrants and 10% rake would collect $100 in entry fees and return $90 in prizes. That means each entrant contributed $18 to the prize pool and paid $2 in rake. A user on a 50% rakeback plan would get back $1 for entering that contest.

Underdog’s Gladiator Program offers rakeback on Battle Royale entry fees year-round. However, Best Ball and pick’em contests only generate rake back during promotional periods.

For Battle Royale contests, players can achieve three rake back tiers based on the number of paid entries they enter in a single week:

  • 25-49 Entries: 10% rake back
  • 50-74 Entries: 25% rake back
  • 75+ Entries: 50% rake back

Best Ball and pick’em rakeback rates vary because rakeback is only available for those contests during time-limited promos. Here’s an example from a past Gladiators promotion that ran for three months and awarded rakeback on all Best Ball contests:

  • 50+ Entries during the entire promo period: 10% rake back
  • 150+ Entries: 15% rake back
  • 250+ Entries: 20% rake back

Players can follow Underdog Drafts (@underdogdrafts) and Underdog Fantasy (@underdogfantasy) on X or opt-in to promotional e-mails to receive a heads-up whenever a rakeback promo launches for Best Ball or pick’em contests.

The Underdog Fantasy rakeback program provides tremendous value to frequent players, but there’s room for improvement in two aspects.

First, the Gladiator Program is easy to miss, and the details are hard to find. Underdog Fantasy could improve in both regards by publishing a comprehensive explainer somewhere prominent on its app and website.

Second, there’s not an easy way for players to track their progress in the Underdog Fantasy rake back program. It would be ideal for Underdog Fantasy to implement a rewards tracker displaying how much rakeback users have generated since the last payment and how many more contests they need to enter to advance to the next tier.

Instead, Underdog Fantasy notifies users that they have become “Gladiators” via e-mail once they have reached the minimum threshold of entries to qualify for rakeback or move up a tier.

That said, those are relatively minor complaints because other daily fantasy rewards programs tend to be underwhelming or nonexistent. Rake back is practically unheard of in daily fantasy, so being able to accumulate rewards at a nice clip is a big plus for Underdog Fantasy customers.

Underdog Fantasy Refer-a-Friend Program

Underdog Fantasy maintains a simple refer-a-friend program. Current customers can refer their friends by inviting them to download the app and input the referrer’s username in the promo field when signing up.

For each new user existing customers refer, they receive $10 in site credit after their referrals deposit at least $10 and play through it one time.

Underdog Fantasy Games and Contests

Underdog made its reputation on best ball fantasy, but it offers a range of contest types covering short-term and season-long commitments. The one mainstay category that Underdog lacks is salary cap contests, as its games are all of the snake draft or pick’em variety.

Best ball contests are Underdog Fantasy’s bread and butter. Other fantasy sites have joined the set-it-and-forget-it bandwagon, but this DFS app does it best.

The best ball concept offers the best of season-long fantasy leagues but drops the need for players to manage their lineups every week. Instead, after players set their rosters, the system retroactively selects each player’s best-performing athletes as their starters at the end of each week to give them the highest score possible for their lineups.

The result is a season-long experience that doesn’t require players to manage waivers, substitutions, and trades. After players set their rosters, all they need to do is log in occasionally to see how their lineups are faring against the competition.

Best ball contests offer two snake draft styles, fast and slow. Fast drafts give players 30 seconds per pick and can be completed in under an hour, while slow drafts give players eight hours per pick.

Contests buyins range from $3 to $100 and span a range of sizes, from heads-up games to large GPPs with massive prize pools on the line.

For example, Underdog Fantasy’s most recent Best Ball Mania tournament for the NFL season guaranteed $3.5 million in prizes for a reasonable $25 buyin.

Battle Royale Contests are Underdog Fantasy’s take on daily fantasy, featuring single-game and weekly slates. They begin with short snake drafts but function like standard DFS contests after players have set their rosters.

For example, a typical NFL Battle Royale contest may involve draft groups of 6 or 12 players filling six slots each. However, unlike season-long leagues, Battle Royale players don’t just compete against their groups – they compete against every other entrant. As a result, some lineups are bound to share players.

At the end of the contest, Underdog Fantasy tallies the scores, and the players with the highest point totals among everyone win cash prizes.

Rivals contests are a type of pick’em game, but instead of over/under predictions, players try to predict which of two athletes will accumulate the highest total for a given stat.

For example, a player might choose Russel Wilson vs. Matthew Stafford and predict which of the two will record the most completions. For their next pick, that player might select DK Metcalf vs. Cooper Kupp and predict which will have the most reception yards.

After players make two to five predictions, they submit the lineup and get paid if they win. Underdog Fantasy offers a 3x payout for two picks, 6x for three, 10x for four, and 20x for five.

Fans can find Underdog Fantasy’s simplest contests under the Pick’em tab, which offers two variants: over/under and Rivals. Both involve paying an entry fee and making prop-style predictions on individual athletes for payouts ranging from 2x to 20x.

Unlike standard fantasy contests, pick’em games pit players against the house. Players select up to five athletes, make simple projections on their statistics, and receive payouts if they get them all right.

In an over/under contest, players select two to five athletes and make over/under predictions on their stat totals in an upcoming game.

For example, a player might select Russel Wilson for one of their picks and take the over or under on him achieving 295.5 total yards in his next game. That player might next select Tyler Lockett and predict the over/under on him notching 5.5 receptions.

Pick’em contests offer fixed payouts for players who get every prediction correct, depending on the number of picks:

  • Two athletes: 3x payout
  • Three athletes: 6x payout
  • Four athletes: 10x payout
  • Five athletes: 20x payout

Pick’em Champions is a variant of Underdog’s regular pick’em fantasy games available in some states that prohibit player-vs-house contests.

The chief difference between the two is in how Underdog Fantasy manages payouts. Pick’em Champions contests combine players’ entry fees into pools and use that money to award prizes worth up to 100x to the winners. In contrast, pick’em contests pit players against the house for fixed payouts.

A secondary difference is that Pick’em Champions contests require players to select a tournament to join after building their rosters.

Otherwise, the mechanics between Pick’em Champions and Underdog’s other pick’em contests are largely the same.

Playing an Underdog Fantasy Pick’em Champions game involves:

  • Creating a roster of 2, 3, 4, or 5 athletes
  • Choosing a statistic for each athlete on your roster
  • Predicting whether each athlete’s gameday performance will be HIGHER or LOWER than Underdog Fantasy’s projection for that statistic
  • Entering your roster into any open tournament and paying the entry fee
  • The more predictions you get correct, the better the odds you win a significant prize

Once a Champions contest ends, Underdog Fantasy uses the pooled entry fees to pay the winners. Potential payouts can vary based on the tournament rules and how well other players score, but generally, payouts take this format:

  • If a single entrant gets the most picks correct, they win the full prize pool
  • If multiple entrants tie for getting the most picks correct, they split the prize pool

In all Underdog Fantasy Champions contests, players will see the exact scoring criteria, available prizes, and maximum number of entries before paying their entry fees.

Underdog Fantasy App Review

Underdog Fantasy$100 Deposit BonusUnderdog Fantasy Promo Code: BETUSA Get Bonus

One of Underdog Fantasy’s strongest points is its lightweight and functional app. Users will find it intuitive due to its simple styling and intelligent presentation of information. Getting started is easy, even for users unfamiliar with some game types.

Many users compare it to the former DRAFT app in online discussions, which is a positive because customers also liked that one before FanDuel acquired and retired it. With much of the same team that built DRAFT now employed by the company, the Underdog app feels a lot like a better version of DRAFT.

After signing up and logging in, customers can browse the main games lobby to view all upcoming contests, sorted by type. A simple tab system allows users to view only the game types they want and quickly enter contests.

When users select a specific contest, the Underdog Fantasy app displays all relevant rules and info specific to that game. Among other details, the app also shows how much rake Underdog is taking out of each contest. All the major fantasy operators collect rake, but only Underdog is transparent about it.

Underdog Fantasy app 1
Underdog Fantasy app 2
Underdog Fantasy app 3

Underdog Fantasy Deposit Methods

Credit Cards Debit Cards PayPal

Underdog Fantasy is a little short on deposit methods, but it covers the basics:

  • PayPal: Anyone with a personal PayPal account may select PayPal from the deposit page, input their login information, and select an amount to deposit instantly.
  • Credit and Debit Cards: Players can also select PayPal to make a guest deposit via credit or debit card, with no PayPal account necessary.
  • Trustly Online Banking: Customers can choose this option, select their bank from the dropdown list, and initiate an instant electronic funds transfer.

Players can withdraw their winnings via PayPal or ACH.

Underdog Sportsbook

Underdog Sports, Inc. also offers legal online sports betting. The Underdog Sports app is now live in North Carolina, and additional launches are on the way. Colorado, Massachusetts, and Ohio are on the company’s shortlist of states where it will enter the online sports betting market.

In January 2024, Underdog Sports announced a partnership with McConnell Golf to offer online sports betting in North Carolina. McConnell Golf owns Sedgefield Country Club, which hosts the PGA Tour’s Wyndham Championship.

The Underdog Sportsbook app launched for North Carolinians in March 2024.

Underdog Sports received a Colorado sports betting license in October 2022. It’s unclear why Underdog Sportsbook hasn’t launched since then, but the company has applied for licenses in additional states as recently as 2024. Whatever the cause of the delay, all signs still point to Underdog Sports proceeding with its online sports betting plans.

Underdog Sports has confirmed it intends to apply for a Massachusetts sports betting license by submitting “prospective operator” materials to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. More detailed information about Underdog Sportsbook’s plans in Massachusetts remain unknown.

Underdog Sportsbook received an Ohio sports betting license through a partnership with the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds are also partnered with BetMGM to operate a retail sportsbook at the Great American Ball Park, so Underdog will be an online-only operator in Ohio at first.

Underdog Sports Betting Overview

Underdog Sports, Inc. announced its intention to enter the online sports betting market in September 2021 after acquiring GOAT Gaming, a B2B supplier of risk and account management technology.

Details remained sparse for two full years following the acquisition, but Underdog Sports, Inc. promised to provide a unique experience in an industry dominated by sportsbooks that do little to differentiate themselves from one another.

Here’s how Underdog President and Chairman Jeremy Levine put it in a later statement:

“Since the start of Underdog, we’ve believed that building quality products and putting customers first is a winning recipe. We’re excited to continue to innovate and build new experiences from the ground up in fantasy, sports betting, and adjacent spaces. This funding round gives us the firepower to continue to build; and build we will.”

Fans got their first good look at Underdog Sportsbook when it launched for North Carolina bettors in March 2024. The jury remains out as to whether Underdog Sports will succeed where many others have failed when it comes to toppling the entrenched giants, but it has certainly lived up to Levine’s promises that it will offer something different.

Most noticeably, the Underdog Sports app is significantly more newbie-friendly than other online sportsbooks. Whereas most sports betting apps greet new users with rows upon rows of odds and acronyms, Underdog Sportsbook displays wagers in a simple but intuitive manner.

For example, Underdog Sports uses large buttons with labels like “Steelers to Win” or “Hornets to Win” and displays the odds as multiples of the bettor’s wager. For casual fans, it’s just a lot easier to comprehend what it means to win 1.5x their bet than what it means to get moneyline odds of -200, which is what they would see anywhere else for the same wager.

Underdog Fantasy Legal States

Underdog Fantasy$100 Deposit BonusUnderdog Fantasy Promo Code: BETUSA Get Bonus

Underdog Fantasy is available in the following states.

  • Note 1: Pick’em contests are not available in the states denoted with an asterisk (*)
  • Note 2: Pick’em Champions contests are only available in states denoted with an obelus (†)
Column 1Column 2Column 3
Alabama†Massachusetts†Pennsylvania*
AlaskaMinnesotaRhode Island
Arizona†Mississippi*South Carolina
Arkansas†Missouri†South Dakota
CaliforniaNebraskaTennessee†
Colorado†New Hampshire*†Texas
DCNew Jersey*Utah
Florida†New MexicoVermont
GeorgiaNew YorkVirginia
IllinoisNorth Carolina†West Virginia†
IndianaNorth DakotaWisconsin
Kansas*Ohio*Wyoming†
KentuckyOklahoma
Maryland*Oregon

Underdog Fantasy FAQ

Not yet, but Underdog Fantasy is working on it. Underdog Fantasy purchased B2B sports betting technology supplier GOAT Gaming in late 2021 ahead of plans to launch an online sportsbook. More than two years later, Underdog Sports appears to be on the verge of launching its online sportsbook.

Underdog Fantasy hosts contests for the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB.

Customers can contact the support team via e-mail, Twitter, Facebook, and Discord.

If you can no longer find pick’em contests on the Underdog Fantasy app, it’s probably due to state law.

Underdog Fantasy removed pick’em games in some states due to pressure from local regulators who determined those games are the equivalent of unlicensed sports betting.

In most cases, the primary issue regulators noted was that pick’em contests are player-vs-house games. That led to Underdog Fantasy developing a player-vs-player variant called Pick’em Champions.

Expert Opinion: Is Underdog Fantasy Legit?

Underdog Fantasy is a legitimate fantasy sports app in terms of reputation, security, and overall quality.

The name “Underdog Fantasy” was certainly appropriate when Underdog Fantasy initially launched in 2020. At that time, it was just the latest entrant in the crowded daily fantasy market. However, Underdog Fantasy filled a massive void by offering DFS fans uncomplicated and less time-intensive forms of best ball and snake draft fantasy contests. Underdog Fantasy is now a market leader in best ball DFS, online snake draft tournaments, and pick’em predictions.

The Underdog approach to daily fantasy is refreshing, even if it isn’t for everyone. Fans interested in expanding beyond the shark-infested waters of mainstream DFS sites should consider giving Underdog Fantasy a chance.