FanDuel Review & Welcome Bonus

It’s unsurprising to learn that this big-name operator ticks all the right boxes when it comes to providing a daily fantasy sports service. From nailing the sports selections and competition modes, to the thoughtfully considered UX that feels tailored to any desire, it seems like everything has been considered by Fanduel.

One major downside of FandDuel is that the new player welcome bonus is not very generous, especially if you compare to the likes of DraftKings or Monkey Knife Fight, for example. DraftKings has a Deposit bonus up to $500 for those playing for the first time which is un-matched.

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FanDuel – Something Different

Rarely does a company provide a better combination of playing daily fantasy sports and winning money than FanDuel. After countless hours clocked in with plenty of challenges entered, we’d be hard pressed to find any faults with what’s on offer.

New players can be confident that their money is in safe hands, and that there’s always help nearby should any problems arise.

There are only a handful of fantasy sports platforms that provide top-grade fantasy playing and betting services. FanDuel is one of them. It is actually one of the two most-recognized daily fantasy sports sites.

Being one of the earliest daily fantasy sports sites, FanDuel has redefined the concept of fantasy sports. Unlike other fantasy sports sites, FanDuel was the first to allow users to win real money prizes playing fantasy sports on a daily, rather than weekly, monthly, or yearly basis.

FanDuel is a multifaceted, all-around betting website, encompassing sports and casino gambling along with daily fantasy sports.

It is also one of the most recognized fantasy sports brands in the U.S. and globally, and alongside the DraftKings app, the FanDuel app is arguably the best fantasy sports betting mobile app available. It has won the Best Sports App award at the annual Webby Awards twice.

FanDuel First Impressions

FanDuel, while focused on daily fantasy sports, has dedicated an equal amount of attention to every aspect of its business. This means that with FanDuel, you will also find both a top sportsbook and casino gambling website.

FanDuel Fantasy Sports – Key Information

Established:	2009
Ownership:	Flutter Entertainment
Official Website:	www.fanduel.com
Customer Support:	support@fanduel.com
Bonus:	First time deposit bonus up to $500
Payment Methods:	Visa, MasterCard, PayPal, Discover, ACH, Bank Transfer
Minimum Deposit:	$10
Sports Available:	NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, Soccer, CFB, Golf, Tennis, NASCAR, WNBA CBB
Languages Available:	English
Restricted States:	Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana, Montana, Nevada, Washington

Each section has its own promotions and separate FanDuel bonus offers. The choice of games is better than most other daily fantasy sports sites. What we particularly liked about FanDuel is that it is fitting for both inexperienced and seasoned fantasy sports players. Aside from allowing users to join numerous daily, weekly, and monthly contests throughout the year and win large cash prizes, it also allows for more casual play with its “Friends Mode’.

Apart from the choice of games, contests, and sheer selection of betting and playing options, FanDuel also comes with an exceptional web design.

The well-structured design of the site, and the even better, more customer-friendly mobile app are what keeps drawing in thousands of new fantasy sports fans to FanDuel instead of similar sites on the market.

FanDuel App

FanDuel is renowned for having one of the best native apps for the range of sports services it provides. As a sign of its dedication to sports and daily fantasy sports, the company has designed a separate FanDuel app for its sportsbook and fantasy sports sections.

The look of the sportsbook FanDuel app is almost identical to the desktop version. The only big difference is that your bet slip will appear in a separate pop-up window which can be opened from the menu at the bottom of the app.

The daily fantasy app provides a practical and simplified version of the desktop FanDuel interface. Once you register, you can seamlessly browse for fantasy sports contests on a nicely laid out mobile platform. Drafting players for your team might prove a bit trickier given you won’t be able to see the full roster of players on the smaller mobile screen.

The FanDuel apps are compatible on all mobile devices and can be found and downloaded from the Apple and Google stores for iOS and Android users, respectively.

Straightforward Registration Process

Registering with FanDuel is easy, simple, and, best of all, does not require you to enter too much personal information.

After you access the site or open the FanDuel app, click on the Join button.

You then need to fill out a few basic log-in fields with an email, username, and an 8-character password of your choosing. After you’re done, click on Play Now. Clicking on that button means you agree to the company’s terms. These terms include being subject to discipline, and even having your account suspended or being permanently banned if you provide ‘information that is inaccurate, not current or incomplete,’ as per FanDuel’s terms.

You may only own one FanDuel account at a time and no one else is permitted to use FanDuel’s services through that account. Also, make sure you pick a strong, unique password that you do not use on any other internet account. Otherwise, using an identical password might cause some unwanted issues.

FanDuel Game Selection

When it comes to the choice of games, FanDuel covers every base. Almost every base, that is. Since the site is American-owned and operated, its sportsbook primarily covers sports that are most popular in the Americas. However, there are also betting markets on multiple leagues for different sports in Mexico and Europe as well. At FanDuel, you can expect to find betting options for the following sports:

• Racing
• Baseball
• Basketball
• Tennis
• Boxing
• Football
• Golf
• Hockey
• Soccer
• MMA

If you are into more fringe sports such as Cricket, Gaelic sports, or European basketball, you might want to try a different sportsbook.

The FanDuel casino, too, has a solid game selection. From slots to jackpots, and table and card games, the site has something for every casino enthusiast.

But the Fanduel casino and sportsbook are second-hand to its daily fantasy sports section. From the very beginning, FanDuel has been focused on fantasy sports, and to this day, it is the area where they excel.

Initially, FanDuel lacked the variety of some of its top competitors, though they have managed to keep up and have expanded their fantasy section over the years. As of this review, FanDuel offered the following (predominantly American) fantasy sports:

• NFL
• NBA
• NHL
• MLB
• Soccer
• CFB
• Golf
• Tennis
• NASCAR
• WNBA
• CBB

Prize Pools

Yet another indicator of FanDuel’s efforts to be the best in the fantasy sports business is the super-generous prize pools for its contests.

The total prize money for any tournament can range from several thousand dollars to up to a couple of million. Yep, you heard that right, qualifying for one of FanDuel’s daily fantasy sports tournaments makes you eligible to win hefty portions of enormous prize pools.

For instance, if you qualify, and become a finalist in FanDuel’s World Fantasy Football Championship, you get a trip to New York City and compete in the main event that has a $2 million prize pool. If you are skilled enough to win first place, there’s a $500,000 reward with your name on it.

Moreover, FanDuel runs so-called ‘guaranteed’ tournaments. That means that the prize pools in a tournament will stay the same and the tournament will proceed even if it does not fill.

FanDuel Bonus Offers & Promotions

FanDuel bonuses and promotions come in different shapes and sizes. There are distinct FanDuel bonus offers for both its sportsbook, casino, and fantasy sports. In this FanDuel review, we will only cover the available daily fantasy sports offers.

FanDuel has a solid referral program, you can invite a friend to join a fantasy sports contest and play $10 using credits or cash within 30 days, and each of you will be eligible to get a $10 FanDuel bonus to play on FanDuel!

The site also credits 10 FanDuel points to every user who spends $1. Once you collect enough FanDuel points, you can use them on real money contests.

There are tons of other promos and bonus offers at Fanduel. Too many to list, actually. But one more deserves a mention. New FanDuel customers can receive a bonus of up to $500 on their first deposit. FanDuel will return 20% of your initial deposit, with a maximum bonus of $500.

Payment Methods at FanDuel

As far as depositing money goes, FanDuel has a limited option for banking.

Cards such as VISA, MasterCard, and the PayPal e-wallet are the most commonly used deposit methods.

However, the site also accepts Automated Clearing House (ACH) payments via the site’s VIP Preferred Network. ACH payments are an extremely practical way of transferring money from your bank account without using credit or debit cards, cash, or wire transfers. All you need to set this up as your payment method is a routing number and bank account number, state ID, and driving license ID. The processing of the funds will take about 15-20 minutes and the deposit limits are set to $500 over 24 hours and $10k over 30 days. In some instances, however, it could take up to several days before the money appears on your FanDuel account.

Limits and Restrictions

By limits and restrictions, we usually refer to the site’s or its services’ availability, or lack of it thereof, in certain regions or states. For users in the U.S., there are certain limits to using FanDuel depending on which state they live in.

For instance, FanDuel’s sportsbook is available only in several states, including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Indiana, Colorado, Illinois, Tennessee, Iowa, Virginia, and Michigan. Horse racing, on the other hand, is available in 22 states.

Meanwhile, the FanDuel daily fantasy sports services are available in 44 of the 50 states. Here is a list of the states in which it is illegal to use FanDual:

• Hawaii
• Idaho
• Louisiana
• Montana
• Nevada
• Washington

Other than geographical limitations, contest entry, minimum betting, deposit, and withdrawal limits may also apply.Age limitations also apply. FanDuel is available for use for all users aged 18 or older (at least 21 years of age in Massachusetts, Iowa, and Louisiana, 19 years of age in Alabama).

Moreover, to participate in a FanDuel contest, you must be a resident of the U.S. or Canada or at least have an address in one of the two countries.

For further restrictions, we advise you to read through FanDuel’s terms of service.

What is Fantasy Betting?

To understand how fantasy betting works, you first need to understand what fantasy sports are. Sports betting has been at the forefront of the gambling industry for decades, if not centuries. But as with all things traditional, some felt a change was overdue. Enter fantasy sports!

As of the late 2000s and the beginning of the 2010s, fantasy sports had become a multi-billion-dollar industry. For instance, the fantasy football market was worth $70 billion in 2013. Since then, the popularity of fantasy football has only soared, and so has the appeal of basically every other fantasy sport.

To sate the growing appetite of fantasy sports fans, some companies decided to go the extra mile and provide every service possible related to fantasy sports gaming. This includes both playing fantasy sports and the possibility of winning money by competing in various contests and against other players. In other words, fantasy sports became a gambling industry.

Fantasy sports are customized competitions between fans of a given sport who create leagues and teams by selecting actual athletes competing in that sport. The format of the leagues can vary, and there are both amateur and leagues organized on a more professional level. The teams that players form then compete by assessment of the statistical performance of individual players in real life. The better actual players perform in real-life games, the more chances you have of scoring more points and, in effect, winning.

Let’s take, for instance, the NFL, one of the most popular fantasy sports. You can either join a team in an existing fantasy NFL league or create your own league and invite players to form teams. You name the league and create an individual password, and set a date for drafting players.

The managers of the virtual teams each make their specific drafts and the virtual player on their team will score points based on the in-game stats of the actual player. Note, if you bench a player on your fantasy team, while the actual athlete makes the starting lineup, you won’t get any points. Points are earned in various ways, including when a player scores a touchdown, receives a pass, or for defensive play.

While initially mainly a hobby, fantasy sports turned into a profitable business for both participants and businesses. Players who want to win real money on fantasy sports will be required to pay certain fees to participate in fantasy events. But the upside is that once you get the hang of how it works, the sky’s the limit as to how much you can win. Fantasy sports win anywhere from a few thousand to hundreds of thousands of dollars every year.`

How Does FanDuel Work?

There’s not too much we can add about how FanDuel works that we haven’t already mentioned.

You start by creating your account using valid email addresses and a strong password. Once you create an account, you choose your preferred payment method and make a deposit.

Once you set up your account and deposit, you can proceed to form a fantasy sports team, create or join a league, invite players, or participate in daily, weekly, and monthly contests. Every contest has an entry fee that can vary depending on the size of the contest. If you enter any contest, the fee amount will be subtracted from your account.

Also, note that if your account has no activity for 24 hours it will be deemed inactive. FanDuel imposes a $2.99 per month fee on all inactive accounts.

If you are a newcomer, FanDuel offers a ‘Friends Mode,’ where you play against users/friends who are of similar skill. The Friends Mode is a great way to both earn small cash prizes and familiarize yourself with how fantasy sports gaming works without having experienced players dragging you down.

What Makes FanDuel Secure?

While controversial, fantasy and daily fantasy sports remained an unstoppable force and determined companies like FanDuel somewhat helped daily fantasy sports grow into a respectable and credible business.

The site makes sure that all players participating in fantasy events start on an equal footing, i.e. compete against people of similar skill and experience.

The company employs the latest technologies to make sure that your money, data, and all other information on FanDuel is safe.

Furthermore, there is a whole team of IT and software engineers and experts that keep FanDuel secure on every side.

To further make FanDuel secure and invulnerable to the plethora of online risks, the company has partnered with HackerOne.com to preempt problems even before they occur. What’s great is that you, as a user, can create an account on Hacker One and get paid for reporting a vulnerability issue.

Customer Support

FanDuel’s customer support is responsive and helpful, and their support team provides actual solutions to your issues, rather than stonewalling you as many fantasy sites have been doing.

You can reach to FanDuel’s support team via email (support@fanduel.com) or via phone (646-930-0860).

Final Words

There is a reason why FanDuel is a household name. Ever since their DFS service launched back in 2009, the company has set the benchmark for what a fantasy sports operator should be offering punters. In a time where fantasy sports betting is becoming legal across most of the United States, more Americans will get the opportunity to experience playing with this daily fantasy platform.

If you’re looking for a fantasy sports app that is safe, easy to use, and offers a fun experience to players (plus that necessary new-player bonus), we have to recommend readers sign up to DraftKings at this time. Their bonus is just too good to overlook.

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