I want to quickly say that I enjoy the day to day puzzle and challenge that DFS baseball has to offer, but as I got a little duped tonight by the Draft Kings site, and to oppose the general giddiness I write most post on this site, I thought it would be a good idea to let the world, especially the new players, know a few thing DFS does, that aren't quite kosher. These aren't dealbreakers, and can be worked around, but it was something I wish I had known up front.
- Their Advertisements to get you in to play are misleading
Any one who is considering playing DFS has seen or heard the ads Draft Kings and FanDuel use to get you in. Whether it be on TV, Radio, Podcast,or Internet, what you think you hear is that they will match your deposit. This isn't a lie, but it doesn't mean what you think it means. The Average person hears this, thinks sounds good, I put in 50 bucks, and if I lose it, they give it back to me. What's the harm and it sounds interesting. I'll give it a whirl. But it doesn't work that way. If you were to place one 50 dollar wager and lose, you would be out your money and get nothing in matching funds.
They will match your funds, but they do it through a process which involves earning Frequent Player Points (FPP's for short) over a specified time frame (FPP's expire in 4 months). I have first hand knowledge of how Draft Kings works and I read the fine print over a FanDuel where they state they work the same. Basically, as you accumulate FPP's, they release your matching funds. I understand that it would be silly to give away large sums of money dollar for dollar, because it would pay to just take a wild stab at a quick double up, and walk away if you didn't hit. So I was prepared for them to say that I would get a dollar back at something greater than an equal interval. However, I was expecting something in the 5-10 to 1 range, but the real answer is quite larger.
They release $1 to you for every 100 FPP's earned. You earn 1 FPP for every quarter wagered, or 4 for a dollar, This means you have to wager $25 to get $1 in credit. So in order for them to match your money the way it sounds like it works in the advertising, you would have to wager a sizeable amount of money. If you deposited a $100 dollars like I did, in order for Draft Kings to credit me with a hundred dollars, I will need to wager $2500 in 4 months. Most people would run out of funds long before recouping the original deposit. But don't worry, you can always deposit more funds. That is where they get you.
- The Stats the site provides are not to be trusted
I really can't speak about FanDuel, because of my lack of familiarity with their website, but Draft Kings puts out misleading and erroneous information about players everyday. Not the really important stuff like Draft Kings points or Auction Cost. But if you click on any players name, you will be fed erroneous and misleading information.
As best as I can figure, they are designed to make you believe every player is worth rostering. The season stats tend to be correct, but the last game and last 10 games are wrong. I should have know this from the start, as they were putting out last 10 game information on Opening Day, but it just didn't click. I noticed it the day of Mat Latos second start. His first start was remarkably, if not historically bad. If you were into baseball, you knew this. He didnt' get out of the first inning without letting up 7 Runs. But on the day of his second start, this is what Mat Latos' player card looked like.
If you just read this, you might think, not bad, and at that price, I might take a shot. Don't. This is easy enough to work around as player stats are available on dozens of sites. The misleading part is the little story in the bottom left corner (I didn't screen grab that), always contains a blurb about how great he played recently. But if you check, some of those stories go back over a week to find the players last great game. It's just misleading, not incorrect information.
These are two things I wished I'd known before I started.
As far as my getting duped this evening, I will admit it was in part my fault. I was looking for Head to Head contest at 1 or 2 dollars and had the Lobby Filter set to show me just those games. Then the site posted a bright green note saying "new contests" are available. I click that because I wanted to see new names at what I was looking for. The refresh icon reset my search parameter to none, and I rushed to nab games quickly before someone else did, I wound up entering a different time slated tournament. I know they give me a check box to make sure I wanted to make that wager, and I should have noticed. But it was in the final few minutes before game time, and I didn't do what I should have done. Live and Learn. It just throws off my betting strategy because I try to keep my main lineups equally weighted.
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