Email : support@fanduel.com Tel: 415-237-2774
FanDuel is a fantasy sports game which lets you draft a fantasy team any time during the season and win real money on it. Simply select the game you want to enter from the home page (head to head, 3-20 player table or tournament) and draft your team. When the game starts, sit back and watch the real time stats roll in. The team that scores the most fantasy points is the winner and gets the cash prize paid straight into their account. We currently offer daily contests for fantasy football, fantasy baseball, fantasy basketball and fantasy hockey.
The Short Answer
Yes, Fantasy Sports is considered a game of skill and received a specific exemption from the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). FanDuel uses exactly same rules as season long fantasy sports game, the only difference is that our games last only a day. Thanks to fantasy sports being specifically excluded from laws affecting online sports betting, FanDuel is not illegal in any way. Trust us, our lawyers drive very nice cars so that we can keep it that way. We're also members of the The Fantasy Sports Trade Association (FSTA).
The Long Answer
According to a 2007 study, fantasy sports is played by 29.9 million people in the US and Canada. In fact 22% of US males aged between 18 and 45 with internet access have played fantasy sports. It is estimated that fantasy sports has a $3-4 billion annual economic impact across the sports industry and it is now supported by all the major leagues.
Studies by the Fantasy Sports Trade Association (of which Fanduel is a member) have estimated that around 73% of fantasy sports players play paid fantasy games (i.e. games with an entry fee). To meet this demand, major networks such as CBS, NBC and Fox all offer pay to play fantasy sports games.
The laws relating to fantasy sports varies by State however in the vast majority of them fantasy sports is considered a game of skill and therefore legal. In most States a game of skill is classed as game where skill is the predominant factor in determining the winner. The States where our lawyers believe the law is unclear or questionable about the legality of fantasy sports are Arizona, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Montana or Vermont. Therefore we do not offer paid entry games to residents of those States.
In 2006 the US Federal Government passed a law called the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act which was designed to prevent gambling over the internet. The law included a carve out that clarified the legality of fantasy sports. Specifically, it exempted:
"participation in any fantasy or simulation sports game or educational game or contest in which (if the game or contest involves a team or teams) no fantasy or simulation team is based on the current membership of an actual team that is a member of an amateur or professional sports organisation and meets the following conditions:
1. All prizes and awards offered to winning participants are established and made known to the participants in advance of the game or contest and their value is not determined by the number of participants or the amount of any fees paid by participants.
2. All winning outcomes reflect the relative knowledge and skill of the participants and are determined predominantly by accumulated statistical results of the performance of individuals (athletes in the case of sports events) in multiple real-world sporting or other events.
3. No winning outcome is based:
a. On the score, point spread, or any performance or performances of any single real world team or any combination of such teams; or b. Solely on any single performance of an individual athlete in any single real-world sporting or other event."
Daily draft games like Fanduel are a new variant of fantasy sports having only started to appear in the last couple of years. Major networks such as NBC, Comcast and Fox have launched their own versions of daily draft fantasy sports games.
Fanduel takes the legal status of the games it offers very seriously and does its utmost to ensure compliance with existing State and Federal laws. For more information please refer to our terms. If you have any further concerns about the legality of our games please do get in touch.
Fanduel is a member of the Fantasy Sports Trade Association (FSTA) and a partner of Stats Inc who provides our real time sports statistics.
Fanduel offers games at $5, $10, $25, $50 and $100 entry prices. The prizes for winning those games are set out in the table below. Note that for standard multi-person leagues the prize is only for the player that comes first. In the event of a draw the prize will be divided between the two (or more) top scoring entrants.
| Head 2 head | 5 person league | 10 person league | |
| $5 entry | $9 | $22.50 | $45 |
| $10 entry | $18 | $45 | $90 |
| $25 entry | $45 | $112.50 | $225 |
| $50 entry | $90 | $225 | $450 |
| $100 entry | $180 | $450 | $900 |
Fanduel may from time to time offer tables of different sizes and entry fee levels. In those cases the prize level will be advertised on that game. Players also have the ability to create custom contests, which may use a variety of prize structures. In all case, the prizes for each position will be listed within the contest.
Our games are available to play every day allowing you the flexibility to play whenever you want and as often as you want. With FanDuel there's no season long commitment and you can win real cashevery day! You can go head to head against other users and friends or join a multi-player league for larger cash prizes. Oh, and did we mention it was fun?
To open an account simply click here and deposit some money (min $10) to start playing the game in full.
Simply go to the Login page and click on the forgotten password link to send you a reminder.
Please contact us
Well for a start you must be 18 years of age or over and a resident in the USA or Canada.
Unfortunately, if you are a resident of:
You cannot play FanDuel for real money (sorry, go picket your state Senate).
For more information, please read our terms of use.
All of your previous games will be stored in the My Account tab where you can see past, live and your upcoming games.
You can either (1) pick an opponent or opponents from the homepage, (2) play against your friends by challenging them over email, Twitter, Facebook, or via the 'challenge by user name' function or (3) wait and see if your entry is matched by another user. For head to head entries, if you aren't matched prior to the start of the game we will automatically match you against another FanDuel user when the game starts (if a suitable opponent is available).
Enter a new game, and once you've made your picks you can send a challenge out to friends via email, Facebook or Twitter. If you send it to several people then the first person to submit their team will be the person you will play. If none of your friends accept your challenge (they obviously fear you!) then you will be automatically matched against another FanDuel player. If you don't want to appear in public listings of entries (so that your friends have time to accept your challenge) make sure you untick the Public Entry checkbox on the draft screen.
Prior to the start of the game we run all the head to head entries through a matching process which results in most of them getting matched. However, for a small number of them we may not find a matching entry (same entry price level) and therefore that entry is voided and the entry fee is returned to your account.
For the multi-person leagues, if the league is not completely filled by the start of the game then all entries on that league are voided and the entry fees returned to the users accounts. The one exception to this is the large field tournaments, where the contest and prize pool are typically guaranteed, regardless of the number of entrants.
You can edit your lineup at any point until the start of the contest.
For all sports you should see most players who are on the team roster for the selected games. However, contests may be created up to a week in advance. To avoid giving late entrants an unfair advantage, the players available, their positions, and their pricing will not be altered once the contest is created. So there may be times when a player is not available in a contest, such as when a minor league baseball player has recently been called up to the Major Leagues.
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FanDuel Points (FDPs) are FanDuel's reward program. You earn FDPs every time you enter a money game, whether you win or lose. Your FDPs totals are shown in the top right of your FanDuel screen, under your balance. There's an all-time total and a monthly total for points earned this calendar month. The number of points you get for entering a league are displayed in the contest help popup on the lobby and the draft screen. Accumulating FDPs qualifies you for rewards like monthly freerolls. The more you earn, the more you are rewarded.
Your Pending Bonus balance (shown in the top right) shows you how much bonus you have qualified for. It will gradually become real cash in your account for you to play with as you play money games on the site. You gain bonuses from deposit offers, referring friends, and other offers.
You can learn more about pending bonuses here.
Some users are sometimes being charged a small international transfer fee when depositing. We are working with our payment providers to address this, but in the meantime please contact us if you are charged to deposit and we'll refund the fee.
If you have a PayPal account click on the Withdraw link on the My Account page and enter the PayPal email and the amount you wish to withdraw and we will process it via PayPal. All withdrawal requests will be processed within 48 hours or the next business day if the request is received over the weekend. We may perform additional checks if the PayPal account is not one you have deposited from.
We frequently offer bonuses to newly depositing users, for referring other users and for other marketing purposes. These bonuses will go into your pending bonus account and will turn into real cash as you play money games on FanDuel. Once they have been earned into your account they are available to play games or withdraw.
If you're having any problems depositing money then get in touch and we'll deal with the issue as soon possible.
The answer is that it depends on the sport and the position. For MLB, players listed as pitchers will not be awarded points for their batting statistics and players listed at other positions will not be awarded any points if they ever appear in a game as a pitcher. Likewise, for NHL, goalies will not be awarded points in categories that aren't listed in the Rules & Scoring section for goalies, and other positions would not be awarded points if a player were ever to appear in a game as a goalie. However, for NFL, kickers will be awarded points for yardage, receptions, and touchdowns they account for, and players at other positions would be credited with points for any extra points or field goals they kick.
For NFL contests, you will receive points for any postponed games that are played no later than Wednesday of that week. For one day MLB contests, if the postponed game is played on the same day then you will receive points for your players in those games as normal. If a game is postponed to a later date or called off for any reason, any players you have selected for that game will receive zero points. For one day NBA and NHL contests, you will receive points for any postponed games that are played no later than the next day. For any NBA, MLB, and NHL contests that are scheduled to include games from multiple days (such as some playoff contests), you will receive points for any games that are played no later than the day after the last game scheduled as part of the contest. If game cancellations and/or postponements mean there is only one game left in a contest, then the contest will be canceled and all entry fees will be refunded.
NOTE: A game will be considered to be 'played' on a given day if it begins on that day and is completed no later than 6am Eastern on the following day.
Player team listings on Fanduel are updated once per day (overnight). Note that because contests are created as much as five or six days in advance, traded players may not be available in contests which include a game involving their new team, but not their old team. Also note that in some instances a player you selected may no longer be available in a contest which includes their old team, but not their new team. In that case, you'll need to select a replacement or be credited with zero points for the player.
Note that on the day a player is traded, they may still be listed for their old team in the draft screen. If they are traded to another team which is part of the same contest in which you choose them, you will still receive points for their performance. These points may not be reflected accurately during live scoring, but will count at contest settlement time. Also note that contest settlement may be delayed in order to ensure accuracy.
Most importantly, please note that in very rare cases a player is traded early enough in the day that they are able to play for their new team. If they are traded from a team with a late game to a team with an early game, you may be able to select them in late contests, already knowing how they performed that day. In this situation, you will receive zero points for their performance.
Hitters: 1B = 1pt, 2B = 2pts, 3B = 3pts, HR = 4pts, RBI = 1pt, R = 1pt, BB = 1pt, SB = 2pts, HBP = 1pt,
Out (calculated as at bats - hits) = -.25pt
Pitchers: W = 5pts, ER = -1pt, SO=1pt, IP = 1pt*
* Fractional scoring per out.
Only one game of a doubleheader will count for Fanduel scoring. Players will only score points for the game which starts at the time listed in the contest details. This will typically (but not always) be the game at the originally scheduled time.
3-pt FG = 3 pts
2-pt FG = 2 pts
FT = 1 pt
Rebound = 1 pt
Assist = 1 pt
Block = 2 pts
Steal = 2 pts
Turnover = -1 pt
We have to wait until all the final fantasy points have been reported to ensure that the final score is accurate. Because fantasy points are awarded manually by stats providers, there can be some last minute changes. If there is difficulty obtaining official results or issues with scoring, the contest may be settled the following day.
During the game we receive live scoring from our stats provider, Stats Inc. After the game has ended they pass us a final box score for the game. After we receive and confirm the box scores for all the day's games we then settle all entries. However, very rarely, the leagues and stats provider revise the box scores after the final box score has been released. In the event of this occurring the player scores on Fanduel will not be updated and the settlements will not be revised. Note that this is not the same situation as a case where a correction needs to be made after settlement due to a problem with the data feed or the settlement process. In these cases the settlement process (including payment) may be reversed and redone correctly from the beginning.
The scores are calculated using the regular fantasy league points. See the Rules and Scoring link on the draft screen for the specific points and categories used in that game.
