FantasyDraft Review
Overview
- Deposits & Payouts: Credit Card, Debit Card, PayPal
- Daily Fantasy Sports: NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, PGA
- Platforms: FantasyDraft Website, FantasyDraft Mobile Apps
- Minimum Deposit: $10
Most sports bettors and Daily Fantasy Sports or DFS players will have heard of the big names that dominate the industry like FanDuel and DraftKings. There is a growing second tier of DFS sites that are starting to make some noise as well and FantasyDraft is one of the more popular sites on that next level. Established back in 2014 in Charlotte, North Carolina, FantasyDraft along with Yahoo DFS are the two main competitors outside of the two big dogs.
FantasyDraft lives by their slogan of “Rake free DFS” and if you aren’t sure what a rake is, it’s a big deal in the DFS world. The rake refers to the fee or cut that a DFS site takes for holding a contest. For every contest on DraftKings or FanDuel, there is a small rake involved that the company takes from the prize pool. While Rake Free DFS is accurate, it does come with a membership fee that you can pay to access these contests. In the long run, it is often thought that players will pay the equivalent of about 30% of your bankroll to the companies in rake. With a minimal membership fee, FantasyDraft allows players to potentially win 100% of the entry fees in a given contest. For volume DFS players, it is a big deal.
FantasyDraft Review – Daily Fantasy Sports
FantasyDraft Review: Incentives
No DFS site offers a better referral system than FantasyDraft. They are famous for their “6 Degrees of Pay” referral system which is basically a pyramid referral chain. If you refer one person and that person refers to another and that person refers to another and so on, you will receive real money back for up to six degrees of referrals. This is definitely something that encourages players to refer as many as their friends as they can to optimize the money they receive in return.
FantasyDraft Review – Referral Bonus
FantasyDraft also has a great welcome bonus where they will offer 4% cashback on all entries within the first 90 days of signup. The minimum deposit is only $10, and the usual suspects of payment are available with all major credit cards and PayPal. Some other great features about FantasyDraft are the introduction of a larger pay-out zone for GPPs. Other sites have varying pay-out zones but for GPPs you are looking at about 17-20% of the top line-ups receiving a pay-out. FantasyDraft has upped that to 25% which means a lot more players are going to get paid out. While they also advertise that they have lower entry fees for contests, that also means that combined with a higher pay-out percentage, the overall prizes are lower than on other sites
FantasyDraft also lowers the multi-entry cap on a lot of their big tournaments. This means that players are not competing against hundreds or even thousands of entries from the same player, which levels the playing field for everyone who enters. One other nice feature that FantasyDraft offers is the ability to Play With the Pros, which allows players to face off against famous athletes and sports personalities. Some of the athletes that have been involved with FantasyDraft since their inception are New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, and Cleveland Cavaliers player Kevin Love.
FantasyDraft Review: Daily Fantasy Sports
FantasyDraft allows for quick and easy signup as long as you are legally 18 and in a state or country that allows Daily Fantasy Sports. Signup with an email address and in a few minutes you will be able to deposit money from a credit card or PayPal into your account. One thing you may notice as soon as you enter the lobby for the first time is that if you are used to DraftKings or FanDuel, the options and choices in FantasyDraft are slim in comparison. Currently FantasyDraft only offers the ability to play games for the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and PGA. While these are the main options that most DFS players do find themselves playing, there is a large group of the DFS community that only plays NCAA football or basketball games. The type of DFS game styles are limited as well with the standard GPP tournaments, cash games, and head to head. There are no Millionaire Makers or prime time Showdown options on FantasyDraft and the size of the contests really begin to show what that next tier in DFS is like compared to DraftKings or FanDuel. One good thing is that just like the other DFS sites, they do offer the Beginners Contests for novice players which are an excellent way for people who are new to DFS to ease their way into the environment and control their bankroll at the start.
FantasyDraft Review – Sportsbook
Gameplay on FantasyDraft is similar to the other DFS sites and really hasn’t revolutionized the game in comparison. FantasyDraft does place an emphasis on extra Flex positions in line-ups for all of their sports, which really does add an extra element of flexibility and uniqueness to line-up construction. Other than this the gameplay does not seem too different from the other DFS sites, which is great if you love DFS but on the other hand, FantasyDraft does not do enough to differentiate themselves from FanDuel or DraftKings. Players can play essentially the same games for bigger prizes across more sports on those other sites. FantasyDraft has just recently released a mobile app which should help it gain a little more ground in the industry. While DraftKings and FanDuel have had years to finetune and shape their mobile experience, FantasyDraft is just entering this space, so understandably, the app does not seem quite as polished.
Pros / Cons
- Less competition from pro players
- Free game entry with your first deposit
- Generous referral program
- Rake-free contests with the monthly subscription model
- Games do not always get enough players
- Not that different from DFS industry leaders
- Less choice of games compared to FanDuel & DraftKings
FantasyDraft Review: Conclusion
FantasyDraft offers a nice alternative to playing with the big boys on FanDuel and DraftKings. The ‘6 Degrees of Pay’ referral system is a great way to keep players involved in the FantasyDraft ecosystem, as well as providing a lot of incentive for them to invite their friends and loved ones. It is also great to see them try to spread the wealth around a bit more by increasing the pay-out zone and lowering entry fees. If you want to hit the lottery and become an instant millionaire, FantasyDraft probably isn’t the platform for you. The Zero Rake contests are an interesting strategy but for the majority of DFS players this shouldn’t be a turning point to consider FantasyDraft or other DFS sites. Relatively speaking, the company is still young and just developing out of its infancy as a go to DFS name. If they can create a robust mobile experience and slowly expand their product, they should be able to take that third spot in the DFS industry. Dethroning DraftKings or FanDuel may be a bit ambitious at this point in time, but as the industry grows, there will be bigger parts of the pie to go around.
