FanDuel

So I signed up for FanDuel and put $25 real dollars into it. In case you're not familiar, it's fantasy sports than you can put real money in, but instead of leagues that take 6 months, each day offers a huge selection of games that payout that day. I was good at Home Team Challenge, and that's basically what it's like.

They entice you with the promise of matching your initial deposit. But they do it very slowly. They will transfer the matching funds, 4% of each wager. So today, I put $1 on the line with the hopes of winning $1.80. FanDuel is transferring 4 cents to me as part of the match program. Which means that I would have to put $625 on the line in order to fully earn the $25 match. And even then, that $25 is not able to be withdrawn, it has to be played first.

They offer giant contests with big prizes, but obviously you could play for months and never get any return.

What interested me is a 50/50 league. If you finish in the top 50%, you get paid. As I said earlier, it's just winning a regular bet, although their cut is more like -115ish than -110. If there's 100 people, I don't feel like it's realistic to place in the top 5, but I can get in the top 50, right?

I realized that I really have only ever played fantasy football, so don't feel comfortable with anything else. But since that doesn't start until September, today I did a NBA 50/50 one-day league. The games are half over and I'm currently 21st out of 100. I've been fluctuating between 21 and 50 over the last 10 minutes.

Back to the matching...let's say that every day I did 25 different $1 bets. I would have to get 14 wins just to break even. If I did that 25 days, then I would earn the $25 match. Then I would have to do it one more time to turn the matching funds into withdrawing funds.

If I can't maintain a 56% winning percentage, then I'll run out of funds before I earn the match. If I exceed it, I'll make a profit on top of the matched funds.

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I fully recognize between the beers and the gambling, that I'm potentially opening the doors to addictive pastimes. Hopefully I can play fantasy football in the fall and then withdraw some funds. One of my favorite things to do playing poker, was whenever I was over my starting amount, to set aside the starting amount so I know I would at worst break-even. The equivalent would be if I get up to withdraw my original $25 to paypal, so I can play with house money.

If you want to sign up, here's my referral link.