Best Daily Fantasy Sports Sites in 2024

Definition of Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS)

Daily fantasy sports operate as a sort of subset of fantasy sports games. Players compete against others by constructing their team of professional athletes within a particular league or competition, and this must be done while remaining under a specific salary cap. 

Points are then earned based on the actual statistical performance of the players participating in real-world events. Essentially, if you have ever experienced fantasy sports games, the DFS options are accelerated versions.

Because they are daily fantasy sports, the betting and participation takes place over a single day or sometimes up to a week of competition. This works in stark opposition to those that occur across entire seasons, making them much more instantly exciting.

Typically structured as paid competitions, which are usually referred to as contests, winners will receive a share of a pre-determined pot funded by the entry fees of everyone involved. A portion of these funds also goes to the operator providing the DFS service as rake revenue. Within the United States, the DFS sector is dominated by two top-quality, competing services. Those exist as the FanDuel online site, which bases itself out of New York, and DraftKings, located in Boston.

Our DFS Sites Review Process

Daily Fantasy Sports are enjoyed by players worldwide, and sites are mostly legal throughout the US. We have a group of DFS expert reviewers here at CasinoTopsOnline who spend their free time creating fantasy teams and sharing their expertise. We review a number of DFS sites regularly, examining the good and bad and letting you know our expert opinions. 

Availability in Different Countries

Our team reviews sites based on how available they are to players around the globe. You’ll find a list of all the accepted countries on our DFS site reviews so that you can instantly decide to give it a hit or a miss. 

Number of Events Each Day

We check out how many events are offered daily at each DFS site that we review. This is imperative for your choice and overall experience as the bettor. We give a thumbs up to sites that have plenty of events kicking off regularly and those that don’t enforce league locks for longer contests.

Customer Service in Multiple Languages

Getting the help, we need in our preferred language is super important when we are online gambling. This is why we evaluate a DFS site on their quality of customer support and the number of different languages they offer. We test out the service overall and ask multiple questions to the agents.

Types of Daily Fantasy Sports

There are several types of daily fantasy sports competitions, and these are usually divided up into two separate categories. Those exist as cash games and guaranteed prize pool (GPP) options. Head-to-head and prediction fantasy sports have also made their way into the scene in more recent times. Let’s take a closer look at these types of DFS.

Guaranteed Prize Pools

When playing GPP contests, there are higher stakes involved than standard. Tiered payouts based on finishing within different positions of the field of the contestants are affected. Additional variants of double-up games, such as triple-up, quadruple-up and more, may also be provided for GGP sports betting.

In this type of contest, the entire prize pool is also known in advance, regardless of how many people enter it. The more money guaranteed upfront, the more you stand the chance of winning if you are victorious with your team. Guarantees will be different from sport to sport and league to league. For example, the Premier League season often has a prize pool of €1 million at some sites, while smaller online eSports companies like the Serie A or CS:GO eSports, for example, come with smaller guarantees.

Cash Games

When it comes to cash games, these are considered the main category at DFS sites. Several subcategories are attached to cash games, like 50/50 and head-to-head. Most of the time, with these cash games, you only need to come out on top of around 50% of your competition. Yet some winner-take-all leagues also exist that you can participate in if you wish. All of them pretty much have the same goal, though. Essentially, the idea is to get as high up the rankings as possible to ensure you obtain a win of some sort.

Head-to-Head

As the title of this variant suggests, head-to-head see you square off against another daily fantasy player for the chance to win a prize. Of course, only two of you are participating in this circumstance, so the prize is usually the entry fee you have both paid, minus the rake for the top casino site you are playing at.

These head-to-head options serve as the simplest and safest type of cash game to get involved in. That’s because even if your chosen sports team does poorly, you still have the chance to win matchups against those who did even worse than your own.

Prediction Fantasy Sports

Prediction fantasy sports are essentially where you predict the outcome of a sports match itself. So, you aren’t specifically paying entry fees and willing your team to win the whole league or do exceptionally well in it. 

Instead, you’re predicting the outcome of a specific match, and points are acquired for accurately predicting this. You play against other players in a league, and the person who accumulates the most points from engaging in prediction fantasy sports wins the overall league.

Virtual Sports Offered in DFS

It would be common to think, and potentially hope for some people, that all types of sports are offered at DFS sites. Yet this is not the case. Only certain sports and associated leagues and players are included in the daily fantasy sports world. Generally speaking, this surrounds the most popular sports, as players will have more ability to work with these than something not as common. Take a look at the virtual sports offered in DFS below.

Daily Fantasy Football

The NFL is a huge attraction for people from the United States and from around the world. This is why it, along with other American football options, exists as one of the primary focuses for DFS sites. 

Both the DraftKings and FanDuel platforms allow betting on fantasy NFL teams, and generally speaking, it is available at all DFS websites. Participants make their picks from players associated with all the teams within the NFL and then construct a team of their own to enter into competitions.

Daily Fantasy Basketball

Even though American football has always been the primary appeal for DFS players, basketball has also become a large draw for this area. It has helped DFS to increase in popularity in general around the world. 

Participants can choose players from the NBA – which serves as one of the most popular leagues worldwide where basketball is concerned – and create their roster of players from real teams. As is the standard case with DFS, points are earned for the players’ performances in real games.

It is key to note that because contests in the NBA season take place every night, many online DFS sites will hand out exciting prizes that top those associated with the NFL, which does not host games as frequently.

Daily Fantasy Baseball

Baseball is also a popular sport in the United States, with the MLB serving as a primary fascination for many. That’s another reason why this one, in particular, has become an option at fantasy sports sites for participants to engage in. Again, you make your picks from real MLB players, construct your favoured team within the salary cap and send them off to compete against others. Your lineup will then be rated based on the real players’ activity within the league.

Daily Fantasy Hockey

Maybe you are more of a hockey fan and want to create your hockey team. Fortunately, this is also possible through DFS sites, with the NHL being a particular focus for many participants. Sites like the FanDuel above and the DraftKings online DFS platform incorporate the NHL fantasy league into their options. And as is the case with the other sports already mentioned, you get to construct your side of your favourite players and send them off into competition against others.

Other DFS

You’ll also find that there are often additional possibilities to take advantage of alongside the primary fantasy sports on hand at such sites. So, should you want to engage in some smaller leagues or lesser-known sports, you can create teams made up of players from the following sports at various sites:

• College football
• NASCAR
• College basketball
• Golf
• Soccer
• eSports
• Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)

Different sports with this type of online sports betting will be popular with other people. For example, players in Virginia, where there aren’t any professional major league sports teams, may prefer creating groups surrounding one of the other options outside of the NFL, NHL, MLB or NBA. 

Perhaps PGA golf is something that they would want to wager on instead, or maybe NASCAR. On the other hand, those based in Tennessee may look to create a football team surrounding players from the Tennessee Titans. Then again, they may want to create a team made up of players from various groups.

The Legality of Daily Fantasy Sports

Playing daily fantasy sports for money is legal by federal law across the United States and Canada. Defined as a game of skill, they are not considered a gambling activity, instead of requiring a certain ability to participate successfully. 

The last action on DFS took place in 2006, but it remains federally legal in the U.S. It remains the case that each state needs to legalise the activity within their borders, though. Please look at the states where it is currently a legal option to engage in.

US State	Status
Alabama	Legal
Alaska	Legal
Arizona	Legal
Arkansas	Legal
California	Legal
Colorado	Legal
Connecticut	Legal
Delaware	Legal
Florida	Legal
Georgia	Legal
Hawaii	Not Legal
Idaho	Not Legal
Illinois	Legal
Indiana	Legal
Iowa	Legal
Kansas	Legal
Kentucky	Legal
Louisiana	Not Legal
Maine	Legal
Maryland	Legal
Massachusetts	Legal
Michigan	Legal
Minnesota	Legal
Mississippi	Legal
Missouri	Legal
Montana	Not Legal
Nebraska	Legal
Nevada	Not Legal
New Hampshire	Legal
New Jersey	Legal
New Mexico	Legal
New York	Legal
North Carolina	Legal
North Dakota	Legal
Ohio	Legal
Oklahoma	Legal
Oregon	Legal
Pennsylvania	Legal
Rhode Island	Legal
South Carolina	Legal
South Dakota	Legal
Tennessee	Legal
Texas	Legal
Utah	Legal
Vermont	Legal
Virginia	Legal
Washington	Not Legal
West Virginia	Legal
Wisconsin	Legal
Wyoming	Legal

Best DFS Websites for Beginners

If you’re looking to get involved in DFS but have never experienced such before, you will need to start with a simple site for beginners to understand. Various platforms in such a format can be recommended, allowing you to begin your journey with DFS wagering in the best way possible. 

You can find the best DFS websites for beginners that we suggest joining below, which have all been reviewed and verified as safe and secure.

Ranking	DFS Website	Daily Events	Rating
1	DraftKings	480	9.8/10
2	Monkey Knife Fight	390	9.3/10
3	FanDuel	420	9.2/10
4	Thrive Fantasy	330	8.4/10
5	ParlayPlay	380	8.0/10
6	PrizePicks	290	7.7/10
7	WinView	270	7.2/10

Our Thoughts on Daily Fantasy Sports

Daily fantasy sports make excellent alternatives to get involved in, as they deviate slightly away from the norm regarding gambling possibilities. The content included on DFS sites is alternative enough to make it seem like something altogether different, though. 

Hundreds and thousands of people have already spent time engaging in DFS betting, primarily due to its fun side. You get to create your preferred teams from various players, utilise tools to assist you with securing winnings and compete against others from all over the world. We love DFS ourselves, and the odds are that you will, too.

Daily Fantasy Sports FAQs

Here are some common questions and answers about DFS.

References

• Overview of Daily Fantasy Sports (Wikipedia)
• What Are Daily Fantasy Sports (Tech Radar)
• WTF is Daily Fantasy Sports? (Tech Crunch)