{"id":117,"date":"2021-05-20T11:59:05","date_gmt":"2021-05-20T11:59:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fantasywired.com\/?p=117"},"modified":"2021-11-03T07:04:36","modified_gmt":"2021-11-03T07:04:36","slug":"draftkings-fantasy-football-launches-in-the-united-kingdom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fantasywired.com\/fantasy-news\/draftkings-goes-live-in-the-united-kingdom-15773.htm","title":{"rendered":"DraftKings Fantasy Football Launches in the United Kingdom"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Daily fantasy sports leader DraftKings<\/strong> officially launched its product in the United Kingdom on Friday, Feb. 5. Football fans across the UK will now be able to play 1-day fantasy sports on the site that took America by storm in 2015.<\/p>\n

There are many questions still surrounding the daily fantasy sports industry, so read on to find out what exactly DraftKings is, how to play, and why football fans in the UK should get started.<\/p>\n

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What is DraftKings?<\/h3>\n

DraftKings is a site that offers daily fantasy sports contests for real money. In the United States, the site runs games with big prizes in a multitude of sports, including NFL (American football), baseball, basketball, and, yes, soccer. Due to its popularity in North America, DraftKings is now hitting the UK, giving British players the chance to enter teams based around Premier League football and all of the other sports the site offers overseas.<\/p>\n

Playing DraftKings Premier League<\/strong> contests is simple: you pick eleven players from any of the Premier League teams playing on a certain day, for your fantasy team. You then get points based on how those players perform on the pitch, using in-game statistics. This sounds familiar to anyone who has entered a Fantasy Premier League team in one of the UK leagues. However, as we explain below, there are key differences.<\/p>\n

What’s the Difference Between Season-Long and Daily Fantasy Sports?<\/h3>\n

In season-long fantasy soccer, you pick a team of players at the start of a season, and that team then stays the same for the whole campaign. You are permitted changes in some versions of the competition, but it’s pretty inflexible. With daily fantasy soccer, you’re picking from the same database of Premier League or European footballers, but you have a chance to pick a new team for each matchday, in tournaments between small or large numbers of players, some of whom enter more than one team to maximise their chances of victory.<\/p>\n

This means there is no season-long commitment to a player who is failing you on the pitch, or to a striker who is missing the target. On the other hand, it means that bargain signings who perform surprisingly well, such as Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy this season in the Premier League, will double or even treble in value. This means that DraftKings is much more of a game of strategy and of finding value, wherever it may be, seeking out undervalued footballers and giving them a chance in your team.<\/p>\n

What Are the Rules?<\/h3>\n

At its most basic level, you get $50,000 budget to pick a squad of 11 players made up of 1 goalkeeper, 3 defenders, 3 midfielders, 2 forwards and 2 utility spots \u2014 these are the players who give flexibility to your formation.<\/p>\n

Points are scored for goals, assists (the pass before a goal), clean sheets and a whole host of other events, as seen below:<\/p>\n