Fantasy Sports Betting – Fancy A Game?

Back in the day, the concept of fantasy sports betting was quite unsoiled. Punters would draw from a roster of players and thrash out a team that notched up points based on separate team members’ performance. A watershed moment came when the whole idea was deftly migrated online, allowing it to reach previously untapped target demographics. As a result, this type of wagering has exploded and soared to unprecedented popularity. Small-scale friendly gatherings have turned into anonymous clashes between self-styled managers who want to earn, and earn big. Gone are the measly sums. Betting on fantasy sports today is still a much-debated topic which excites contrasting opinions.

What Is (Daily) Fantasy Sports Betting And Why Is It Popular?

As far as fantasy sports betting goes, you have two viable choices. There are the season-long fantasy leagues, rather drawn-out to begin with, and their springy offshoots known as daily fantasy sports (DFS). If you have decided to rough it with a contest that stretches a full season, then you are not in it for the money. The game itself comes down to drafting players and accumulating points based on said players’ performance in a newly-forged team. At the end of the season, the players with the best statistics tend to win. Prize pools are usually small, but this barely dampens the spirits of people who seem to be fascinated with the joy-augmenting side of such wagering. Daily Fantasy Sports is estimated at $4bn by the end of the decade. For comparison’s sake, DFS were worth $1.5bn back in 2013.
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Unlike their full versions, daily fantasy sports are short-lived and last only a mere day or week. They differ not only in their transience but across other key features such as the ceiling of feasible profits. While the full gig potentially brings peanuts home, DFS may allow punters to rake up thousands and, on occasion millions, of hard currency. Most DFS events have to do with the National Football League (NFL) and kindly extend to cover soccer, basketball, baseball, hockey, and they go so far as to include electronic sports (eSports).

DFS enthusiasts steadily increase in the years between 2003 and 2015

The Best Fantasy Betting Sites Do Not Stint About Options

In the ranks of the best fantasy betting sites, you will find a spicy variety of options. Overall, the formats are cut down to several well-established iterations, which hardly disappoint. Once you have chosen your team members, you need to pay an entry fee, which may vary from a few dollars to thousands more. As soon as a competition kicks off, you are on. Now, about the types of contests, there are several omnipresent ones:

• First, punters may tap into guaranteed prize pools (GPPs), which simply means that come what may, players will be allowed to compete for a fixed prize pool. An entry fee is asked of all participants. Another boon of GPPs is that leagues need not be topped up to exist.
• Cash games are a bit of a gamble. Players are given some leeway and they may kickstart their own league or join an existing one. The top of the crème tend to bag hefty prizes whereas the rest of the pack peters out.
• FDS comes with another clever format known as head-to-head which throws players up against one another, similar to betting exchanges. The winner claims the running prize pool.
• 50/50 cuts both ways. It offers the upper half to double their investment while leaving the dregs with no winnings.
• Others – there are other options available out there. One that may be a bit hard to wrap one’s mind around is in-play DFS, which simulates a game running in real time. You may also be offered special odds, which ask you to guess how separate players would fare in terms of statistics. A thorny issue about to get thornier.

All Those In Favor, Raise Your Hand – The Legal Patchwork Of Fantasy Sports Betting

Fantasy sports betting, unlike its mainstream counterpart, is not as heavily persecuted. Certainly, the legal landscape for wagering on fantasy sports is churning madly and legislation is still very much being thrashed out. With this in mind, available elsewhere in the world, the United States is a bit of a precedent. Rules in the country vary from one state to the next, but the consensus seems to be for the legalization of this type of wagering, notwithstanding local intransigence.

The case for involves mounting the age-old defense that fantasy sports leagues are a game of skill which absolves all associated betting from the stigma of being a game of chance. Being able to outwit an opponent is not left up to the miracle workings of Fate. Instead, managers tap into a vast throve of resources available online. Websites run comprehensive statistics and whole magazines are dedicated to informing their readers on how to stay competitive. By a popular opinion, DFS are more of a hobbyhorse to people who enter in the field and has little truck with money. Statistically, the argument runs, the overwhelming majority of players partake in contests that have no entry fees nor rewards, bar bragging rights. However, this may now be coming under fire as a new study by Rutgers.

A less emotional and substantiated argument is based on the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, which outlawed online gambling, but specifically addressed fantasy sports betting, online lotteries, and horse/harness racing, exempting them specifically. On the other end of the spectrum, or the case against, skill-based as they may be, fantasy sports betting does not translate into wins for everyone. Certainly, drab as this argument is, the more you know, the better your chances are. The only snag is that you play against other players who are also striving towards the same excellence. It is not a matter of deploying stratagems, which will see the house emptied out of precious profits. A more sustainable argument for the against campaign is that the Rutgers study which revealed that out of 336 respondents who partook in fantasy sports betting, only seven did not also turn to gambling, While the study concluded that DFS bettors share a lot of features with gamblers, more research is needed. However, if DFS proves addictive, it may be reexamined and a new heft may be leveraged in the fight against it. Caveat emptor, punters.

Fantasy Apps Are Just As Spiffy As Profit Itself

Fantasy sports have taken some of the trappings of their mainstream counterparts. We have already established that a significant number of punters also dabble with other forms of betting and across all of those, mobile betting is popular. A powerful fantasy betting app may be the difference between a bettor deciding to sign up for a bookie or seek his or her luck elsewhere. Come what may, apps are in an upswing. Most of those are available for both Android and iOS both iterations offer the full-functionality of the website, which makes them a fetching and handy solutions for punters who tend to be on the move a lot.

Sports Of The People – Fantasy Football Betting Makes A Splash

The National Football League (NFL) has been one of the staunchest supporters of fantasy sports betting. Not surprisingly, the league has been reporting that more people who engage with fantasy sports are much more likely to tune in and watch the games. Another proof, perhaps, that there may be yet other reasons than the vain pursuit of riches in taking up such activities. NFL goes further to host its own fantasy leagues and endorse them openly, with the trend being taken by other high-ranking sports organizations, including the NASCAR, NHL, PGA, NBA, and MLB.

The Reckoning Due For Fantasy Sports Betting

It is difficult to put our finger on what may lie ahead for fantasy sports betting. A lot of arguments are being thrown both in favor and against it, and similarly, the number of people who are oblivious of the legal bickering and want to flick a flutter on a game, is on the increase. With a huge potential for profits and an undeniable appeal when it comes to maximizing the fun one gets out of spectating sports, fantasy sports betting seem likely to stay with us – how much they will change, is a question for the future.