1. Fantasy Sports Sites List
2. Offshore Daily Fantasy Sports Sites
3. New Daily Fantasy Sports Sites
4. Daily Fantasy Sports Rankings

Daily fantasy sports (DFS) and traditional sports betting
have a lot in common. They are both popular forms of gambling
for example, and they also require similar skill-sets and
knowledge bases. It’s possible to gain an edge and make long
term profits with both as well.

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In addition to the similarities they share, however, there
are also some key differences between the two. The commissions
charged are different for one thing, and in DFS the opponents
are other human players rather than bookmakers. The laws that
govern the two activities are different too, or at least they
are in some regions. This point is particularly relevant if you
live in the United States, due to the complicated laws regarding
sports betting as you’re probably all too aware of. The legal
situation is a lot clearer with daily fantasy sports.

On this page we explore what we believe to be the biggest
similarities and differences between daily fantasy sports and
traditional sports betting. This should help you to make a more
educated decision about which one you’d rather pursue.

Keep in mind that daily fantasy sports and
traditional sports betting are NOT mutually exclusive. You can
easily enjoy both hobbies at the same time. In fact, any
experience you gain in DFS can improve your betting abilities,
and vice versa.

Smart Players Can Profit from Both

One of the better written books about gambling is How to Make
$100,000 a Year Gambling for a Living by David Sklansky and
Mason Malmuth. In that book, the authors point out that there
are only a handful of gambling activities where you can
realistically gain enough of an edge to make a living. These are
as follows.

• Blackjack
• Poker
• Sports Betting
• Video Poker

The book came out long before the advent of daily fantasy
sports, but had they been around when the book was written then
the authors might well have included them.

One of the observations in the book was that a smart, skilled
sports bettor can make more money as a professional gambler than
anyone specializing in any of the other forms of gambling on the
above list. That may be up for debate, but it’s a fact that you
can make money from sports betting if you know what you’re
doing. The same applies to daily fantasy sports, and they have
the potential to be just as profitable as traditional sports
betting for most gamblers.

Both DFS and traditional sports betting offer the opportunity
to profit from your knowledge of a particular sport, or sports.
That’s not enough by itself, as you need to be able translate
that knowledge into mathematically advantageous strategies, but
consistent profits are possible with the right approach and a
willingness to learn.

In other words, if you’re smart and willing to work hard, you
can earn a living from daily fantasy sports or from sports
betting. Remember, as we already mentioned, you don’t even have
to choose between the two. There’s no reason why you can’t be
profitable at both.

Daily Fantasy Sports Is Legal and Safe

Sports betting is completely legal in many parts of the
world. Certain regions, such as the United Kingdom for example,
have bookmaking shops where you can bet on any sport you want.
In many other places, online betting is 100% legal and fully
regulated.

If you live in the United States, however, your situation is
somewhat different. The only way to bet on sports without having
any cause for concern is to use Las Vegas books. This is legal,
and perfectly safe too. There’s no need to worry about getting
arrested or not getting paid out, as these books operate within
the law and pay their winners right away. Betting online is an
alternative option, but it’s not an entirely legal one.

The gambling laws in America are
confusing at best, but we’ve tried to explain them as clearly as
possible on our page covering US gambling legislation.

No American is likely to be arrested for betting online, as
the laws and enforcement activities focus on the books and not
the people using them. This can still affect you though. If an
offshore sportsbook you’re using gets shut down by US law then
you may lose any money you have there.

Consider, too, what kinds of businesses are willing to
operate on the wrong side of the law. If they’re willing to take
your action knowing that it’s illegal under federal law, are
they likely to have a strong moral code when it comes to paying
out winnings? Maybe some of them will, but surely some of them
won’t. This problem can be avoided by using reputable betting
sites, but it’s still something for American sports bettors to
think about.

Daily fantasy sports, on the other hand, are legal and safe.
These games use the same rules as traditional fantasy sports
contests, which have never been legally controversial in the
USA. You can play from your computer too, so there’s no need to
travel to Vegas to participate.

For Americans wanting to get money into action on sports over
the internet, daily fantasy sports have a clear advantage over
offshore sports books.

DFS & Sports Betting Both Have Commissions

Daily fantasy sports sites usually keep a 10% commission on
all entry fees before paying out cash prizes. Here’s how that
works.

Bookmakers also keep a commission, but the net amount is
usually lower. Here’s how that usually works.

The net effect of this difference is that you’ll need to
maintain a higher winning percentage in order to break even in
daily fantasy sports. You need a roughly 52.4% win rate at
sports betting when laying $110 to win $100. But in daily
fantasy sports, you need a roughly 55.6% win rate to break even.
This also means that you need a correspondingly higher win rate
in order to achieve the same goals for your ROI (return on
investment).

Our explanation relating to how
bookmakers charge commission is deliberately simplified for the
purposes of this article. For a more detailed look at the
subject, please read our article on how bookmakers make money.

There’s No Bookmaker to Beat in DFS

We’ve just mentioned how the commissions for DFS are
effectively higher than those charged by bookmakers. Although
this appears to be an obvious disadvantage of playing daily
fantasy contests, when you take other factors into account it’s
not actually that big a deal.

One factor that should be taken into account is that sports
betting involves pitting your skills against the skills of the
odds compilers and handicappers that are employed by bookmakers.
These people are very skilled, and they are essentially the main
reason why the sportsbook business is so profitable.

In the case of the Vegas lines, you’re talking about experts
with a practically unlimited access to data and its analysis.
It’s hard to compete with that kind of analysis and win enough
wagers to make money on a consistent basis. They set the odds
and lines with such efficiency that it’s incredibly difficult to
gain an edge over them. It’s possible, but it’s very
challenging.

When you enter a daily fantasy sports contest, you’re facing
other people just like yourself. Some of the opponents you come
up against might be more skilled than you, but they won’t all
be. In fact, many of them will be not very good at all. You
certainly won’t face many opponents who are as hard to beat as
the bookmakers.

In this respect, daily fantasy sports contests resemble poker
games. If you’re one of the best players at a poker table, you
can consistently put yourself into positive expectation
situations and win money more often than you lose. The same
applies to being one of the best fantasy sports players on a
site.

Both Activities Might Be Addictive

Gambling of any kind can be a curse to people with behavior
control problems. The science behind gambling addiction is
clear, and it’s all to do with the human mind and the
biochemistry of the brain. Without the right levels of
self-control, it’s entirely possible to create a dependency on
the highs and lows of gambling.

This a very important point to note. The internet is rife
with horror stories of people whose lives have been ruined by
gambling, and you don’t want to be one of those people. If
you’re someone who has quit gambling on sports because of your
addictive personality, daily fantasy contests are not a safe
alternative. If you can’t control your impulses when betting on
sports, changing to another form of gambling is not going to
help.

Gambling addiction is similar to alcohol addiction.
Alcoholics can’t get their drinking under control just by
switching from whiskey to beer. It just doesn’t work.

Lots of people can enjoy gambling as a hobby, but many others
can’t. If you’re in the latter category, just stay away from
traditional sports betting AND daily fantasy sports. The
potential misery isn’t worth it. If you think you need help,
then do something about getting that help. Life is precious, and
every moment you spend as a slave to an addiction is a moment of
possible freedom wasted.

Summary

We’ve shown that traditional sports betting and daily fantasy
sports have some things in common, and there are also some
differences between the two activities. Each has its own
advantages and disadvantages.

An experienced sports bettor may feel much more comfortable
sticking with what he knows. An American may be happier playing
daily fantasy sports due to the clearer legal situation. There’s
no right or wrong here, and it’s a simple matter of personal
preference. We don’t recommend one over the other.

What we do recommend, though, is that you at least give daily
fantasy sports a try. You might not like it, but you might just
love it.

Until a site earns it, they will not be listed here. Play at the DFS sites below in confidence, they are the best in the business. We’ve been tracking them since 2013 and helping thousands of new DFS players find the right site for them.

Top 10 Daily Fantasy Sports Web Sites List

Updated 12/17/2020

There are not 10 viable daily fantasy sports sites to choose from, even now in 2020. We do not have a top 10 list complete, and do be honest it is doubtful that we ever will.

I can not recommend most of the new, untested and unproven DFS sites.

I personally play myself at the sites I list here. These daily fantasy sites are the best in the business in 2020. These are the sites that I play at and where I recommend you play at as well.

I will review new fantasy sites every once in a while when a quality site emerges. As time moves on some new sites will be added to our list as their reputation grows and the market changes. If you know of a fantasy sports site that you feel deserves to be on our list, please let us know by filling out this quick google form.

Does Biggest = The Best When It Comes To Fantasy Sites

Yes and no. In general, we like playing at the larger fantasy sites for many reasons. First they always have big tournaments. I am talking the $1 to $5 buy-in tournaments with $x,xxx in prize money for top finishes. Win and you’ll be a thousandaire. Come on! Second they are proven to be reputable. They got large for a reason. Third, they offer the safest and easiest fantasy sports experience online.

The Top 2 Largest Daily Fantasy Sites

• #1. DraftKings
• #2. FanDuel

These are the two market leaders, with valuations at over $1 billion (with a “b”) dollars. Each (at least during NFL this past season, this could change w/ the new legal landscape shaping up with more regulation (good!).

I’ve recently updated my reviews featuring new screenshots of the lobby’s and features at both of these sites. If you have yet to play, now is the time.

FanDuel was bought out by the gambling conglomerate, Paddy Power / Betfair in 2018. It looks that federal legal sports betting is coming to the USA and FanDuel (and Draftkings) want a huge piece of it. FD and DK have been rivals for the overall market lead since 2013. In terms of number of players overall Fanduel appears to have the edge.

DraftKings is in a very healthy second place. These two fantasy sports giants control the vast majority of the daily fantasy sports action. The smaller sites are considerably smaller in terms of size of players, guarantees and contests. To be fair, FantasyDraft is one of the few smaller to medium sized sites that has been able to stick around and compete.

They have both recently updated their lobby to be responsive and mobile friendly.

Check out reviews linked above for latest screen shots.

Current Trends and Updates 2020

6/9/2020 – Draftkings has gone public, ticker symbol DKNG on the NASDAQ

1/10/2020 – Draftkings and Fanduel are expanding their sports betting side of the business in the states where there is regulated and legal sports betting in the US.

9/1/2019- Monkey Knife Fight is added to DFS101 after their first year of successful operation. We felt comfortable enough to recommend them to our DFS sites if you are looking for something a little different than the typical build your DFS team and score points. MKF has the prop bet/games you want at the place you can’t help but like Monkey Knife Fight (MKF review).

3/14/2019 – Innovation continues in this market. While the sharks have eaten up most of the fish, the sites have responded with newer ‘rookie friendly’ procedures and employed some limits on multi-entry and mass-entry events. Not limited them so much but have created a variety of contests that are not mass entry.

3/14/2019 – Golf is in full swing and I broke down the Draftkings Golf contest formats here.

8/6/2018 – New DK NFL formats explained and compared here.

7/24/2018 – Draftkings continues to try and help the newbies and recreational players avoid the professionals. They have introduced filters that do not allow the high volume grinders to play in their lower buy-in events. They have also lowered the maximize number of contests that the pro’s can multi-enter.

5/24/2018 – Fanduel bought by Betfair / Paddy Power sports betting site.

4/17/2018 – Published article on Draftkings new golf formats. You can now play one day fantasy golf (showdown mode) and weekend fantasy golf where you just compete for rounds 3 and 4. No more trying to pick players who make the cut in this format.

3/21/2018 – Draftkings offers a new golf scoring format for the match play contests.

11/30/2017 – DK tries to target the casual sports players more, with gif’s.

8/7/2017 – Readying for DraftKings Fanduel NFL 2017. Both sites will remain competitors as the companies abruptly called off merger talks back in July.

7/13/2017 – NYtimes reports that the FD/DK merger is called off. Also hints that Draftkings is in a strong position than FanDuel. We shall see.

4/4/2017 – Fanduel revises Baseball scoring for 2017

3/14/2017 – Fanduel adds golf to all areas except New York for legality reasons – PGA contests are now live at FanDuel.

2/23/2017 – FantasyDraft (we like FD!) has pledged to work with FantasyAces player base to help get players made whole.

2/1/2017 – Mid/small sized site, FantasyAces (never promoted here) has gone bankrupt. Players funds are unlikely to be recovered.

Strong rumors circulating of a merger between DraftKings and FanDuel – They are trying to make this happen.

Fantasy Sports Sites List

The NFL 2017/2018 season has shown a much subdued and much matured DFS industry.

There have been a few minor issues up to this point but they learned from 2015 and 2016 I believe. There has been way less advertising, less drama (although there was some) and to be honest, more difficult games to win.

They calmed down on the advertising and they are trying to make sure the industry operates as a real living ecosystem. Both major sites and a few smaller ones have now added player identification tags (letting you know if the player is a strong player in general or not) as well as limiting the number of H2H matches any one person can scoop up against you.

2016 proved to be pivotal for daily fantasy sports. Either the two big sites will get their collective acts together and build a sustainable long term business or it will crash and burn (positive news update). That’s my prediction anyway. Today it looks like they are getting their acts together.

Back in 2015 we saw the first emergence of a couple of other players with big backing. Notably Yahoo! daily fantasy sports and recently Sportsline. While many argue they are too late to get in on the action, they feel otherwise. The short answer is there are a growing number of DFS sites available but I highly recommend you stick to the sites that have built a reputation already that you can trust. There are thousands thousands of different leagues and contests up for grabs every day. Especially every weekend during football season you will find tens of thousands of unique players take part in contests every weekend.

The traditional fantasy sites like Yahoo! (now with a daily product as well), NFL, CBS, ESPN and the like are still offering the season long style fantasy games and are by far larger than all of these in volume.

Plus with the large player pools, a huge portion of the field is made up of recreational fantasy players. Not to mention that the largest sites are US based companies meaning someone you can really reach out to if you must. To learn more about these sites click through to our reviews below to find the right fit for you.

Middle Sized & Smaller

Let’s look at the middle and small fantasy sites. I’m only going to recommend two smaller sites right now because I am extremely selective on who I am willing to recommend to you.

• FantasyDraft – I am starting to play here for the NFL 2016 season. I am looking for a site that has smaller sized tournament in terms of numbers of entries and FantasyDraft fits the bill. Until now, I haven’t played much ere but some friends do and say they enjoy the site.
• StarsDraft *formerly Victiv (review) – Now owned by the same company that owns PokerStars. They bought out site Victiv and re-branded to ‘StarsDraft’. I have somewhat of a less than great fondness for the new owner, however they seem to have kept most of the product the same. They only accept players from Kansas, Maryland, Massacusetts, and New Jersey.
• FantasyAces
• StarStreet
• FanThrowdown
• DraftOps
• FantasyFeud

The middle and small sized sites sometimes offer value you will not find at the larger sites. You can sometimes find overlay (extra money) in some of their tournaments or special bonuses or freerolls you can take advantage of for joining the site. In addition you can find tournaments with solid prizes with less overall competition. Read through the fantasy site review by clicking the site above to see learn more and get details on the signup bonuses. If you are ready to play, check out our latest site news and promos section for up to date promotions.

Okay, maybe not that wild of a fantasy, but pretty close!

Fantasy Betting Sites Compared By Sport – Find The Best Site For Each Sport

You can play the ‘big 3 sports’ (football, baseball, basketball) at all of the fantasy sports sites we list as they are the ‘bread and butter’ of the fantasy industry. The less popular sports are only available at select sites.

• Football – (all sites) See our football comparison chart.
• Baseball (compare fantasy MLB)
• Basketball (all sites, compare FanDuel vs Draftkings NBA)
• Hockey (all sites)
• Golf (DraftKings, FanDuel (new 2017) DraftDay and FantasyDraft)
• NASCAR (DraftKings)
• Tennis (Draftkings just added July 23, 2018)
• MMA (DraftKings)
• Soccer (DraftKings, FanDuel)
• eSports – League of legends (LoL) DraftKings, eSports are huge, fantasy is trying to get on board.

These are the current sports you can play. We have new player guides based on the different sports here. As our content is ready in these lists we will link them accordingly above.

About The Top 10 Daily Fantasy Sites and DailyFantasySports101.com

Only the absolute best fantasy sports website hosts make it on my Top 10 list. Part of being the best is being big. You will quickly see that my the “Official Daily Fantasy Sports 101 Top 10 List” is incomplete. Why? Because we only select the top rated fantasy betting sites in the industry. We are extremely careful on who we are willing to list and recommend to our visitors. We work hard to create a list of sites that you can trust and offer the best bang for your fantasy buck in the industry. People use this list every day when choosing where to deposit their hard earned money and play, so we have a commitment to list only list the best in class fantasy sports sites.

• • 1. FanDuel
  • 2. DraftKings
  • 3. MonkeyKnifeFight – (different style of DFS)

Offshore Daily Fantasy Sports Sites

We work very closely with these sites. Since they know that new players are coming from this website they want your business. New players joining is a major goal of their marketing. That means they offer our visitors the absolute best promotions, signup incentives and bonuses on the internet.

You can sign up with these sites in confidence knowing that you are maximizing your account when you use DailyFantasySports101.com’s links.

Are The Fantasy Sites Legal? (Yes – But Laws Vary By State!)

The legality and regulation of daily fantasy sports sites is a fluid one. Especially since October of 2015 when an employee from DraftKings won a major prize on FanDuel and leaked internal sensitive DraftKings data early. Anyway the short answer is that yes it is legal but it depends on where you live. Check out our ‘is it legal?‘ page for a list of references and links to confirmations but yes it is legal in most states. There are a few exceptions where states have laws against playing but unless you happen to live in a very few number of states it is 100% completely legal. You can deposit and withdraw with Paypal, Visa and Mastercard. It is quick, seamless and easy to get in the game right now.

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