The rush to claim a chunk of the burgeoning Daily Fantasy market has forced operators to offer bonuses on a players deposit, whether initial or reload, as an additional incentive to draw traffic to their sites. Industry leaders DraftKings and Fanduel have set the market for bonus awards at 100% of your initial deposit, with all of the 2nd tier players like Victiv, DraftDay and Fantasy Aces following suit. The bonuses are all capped at a certain amount, ranging from a $200 low end max bonus at Fanduel to a $1000 high end max bonus offered by Victiv.
Daily Fantasy Initial Deposit Bonus
At the current time, the majority of operators chose to offer the bonus only upon your initial deposit, so it is paramount that you read the terms closely if you wish to maximize the bonus award. Deposit as much as you are comfortable with the first time around, but realize that you will not receive the maximum bonus without depositing the maximum amount. If you have set aside $500 to play daily fantasy with, it is best to deposit it all in one shot, as opposed to staggering the deposits over the course of a month.
Understanding how sites distribute the bonus is an important consideration to make when choosing who gets to give you free money. FanDuel unlocks your bonus award at a rate of 4% of every dollar spent, where DraftKings unlocks your bonus at a rate of $1 for every 100 Frequent Player Points (FPPs) earned.
For lower limit players, there is no difference between how you earn your bonus between the two. In order to earn $1 on FanDuel you must accumulate $25 in contest fees, and to get it on DraftKings you must accumulate 100 FPPs which come at the rate of 4 FPPs per dollar spent, ergo $25 in contest fees. However, if you intend to play higher limit contests, specifically those where the stake is above $55, then Fanduel is the value players choice.
DraftKings works off a graduated system for awarding FPPs, whereas lower limit players are awarded 4 FPPs for every dollar spent up to a $55 buy-in, higher limit players are in effect penalized in their quest to complete the bonus requirements. The following chart illustrates the Fantasy Player Points awarded per dollar spent on DraftKings:
As you can see, there is a sharp drop off in points awarded per dollar spent on DraftKings. A player depositing $200 at FanDuel would only need participate in $5,000 worth of contest buy-ins at FanDuel, regardless of the buy in, to clear their bonus. While at DraftKings, that same player would only be able to clear their $200 bonus in $5000 worth of buy in’s at the lower limit. Should they prefer to play higher limit, they would be required to generate between $6000-$8800 of action to earn the full bonus.
What is Rollover?
The old saying ‘There’s no such thing as a free meal’ holds true here, as all of the bonuses offered come with strings attached. Generally referred to as rollover, these are the goals you must hit to unlock your bonus. No site gives you the entire bonus up front, while none allow it to be withdrawn without meeting the conditions outlined in the bonus agreement. Once the bonus has been released into your general balance, the bonus is available to be reinvested or withdrawn through your chosen method.
All bonuses are not created equal, so it’s best to do your research before deciding which site you’ll patronize.
