DraftKings Promo Code and Review
DraftKings Promo Offer Details Explained – No DraftKings Promo Code Necessary!
Once you’ve created a new DraftKings account by clicking through one of our links or buttons on this page, you just have to add your DraftKings username to your RotoGrinders profile by clicking the edit screen names tab. A few minutes after you complete this step, you’ll automatically be able to access the content for RotoGrinders Premium for DraftKings.
One further note regarding your RotoGrinders DraftKings promo offer: the free DraftKings contest entry will be credited to your DraftKings account immediately upon your first deposit.
What is RotoGrinders Premium for DraftKings?
Our DraftKings promo offer is 3 months of free access to RotoGrinders Premium for DraftKings. This is ~$105 worth of the highest quality daily fantasy sports content on the internet. For a full three months, your access includes content and tools across all sports that DraftKings offers. Looking for access to RotoGrinders’ LineupHQ to help you make MLB and PGA lineups all summer long? You got it! Want to read CheeseIsGood’s MLB Million Dollar Musings, a daily MLB slate breakdown by one of the best MLB players in the world? Also included!
Again, all you have to do is sign up for a new DraftKings account using one of the links or buttons on this page, and you’ll get 3 free months of RotoGrinders Premium for DraftKings!
DraftKings Review
DraftKings was still just a concept when VistaPrint executives Jason Robins, Matthew Kalish, and Paul Liberman left the billion-dollar printing company in early 2012 to pursue the Daily Fantasy Sports site full-time. DraftKings operates out of Boston armed with hundreds of millions of dollars in venture capital.
Loaded with freerolls, guaranteed prize pools, and regular overlay, DraftKings knows how to attract the Daily Fantasy Grinder. This is definitely a site you’ll want in your daily fantasy arsenal.
DraftKings is the undisputed leader in DFS entering 2019. On a day to day basis their contest offerings are not only bigger, but there are many more options than their nearest competitor FanDuel. From day one their goal has been to give their users a ‘royal’ experience and even after finally entering the legal sports betting market they’re still fully committed to that goal on the Daily Fantasy Sports side of their operation.
This review will cover DraftKings’ game offerings, scoring and user experience. We’ll also touch on some of the non-game-related features like customer service, promo codes and promotions that you can expect if you play on DraftKings. Watch the video or read on below for full details on what it’s like playing DFS on DraftKings.
Game Offerings
DraftKings hosts daily fantasy games for all major sports. This includes daily fantasy NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL, as well as soccer, golf, and college football and basketball. DraftKings has also expanded to include more niche offerings including tennis, Euro League basketball, NASCAR, Canadian Football League, mixed martial arts, and E-Sports League of Legends. DraftKings offers a variety of salary cap games at a buy-in range starting at free entries and ranging all the way up to $10,600. They have a multitude of league sizes, including heads to head, five-man, ten-man and large-field tournaments (also called “GPPs”), which can have tens of thousands of players. They also offer large field double-ups with thousands of entrants. If you aren’t looking to spend any money, DraftKings offers daily freerolls, as well as a huge weekly freeroll to reward their players.
With huge GPPs available for all sports and some unique scoring systems, DraftKings has made a big imprint on the daily fantasy market and will continue to shine as one of the top sites in the industry. The massive prize pools and the variety of contests make DraftKings one of the best places to play in the DFS industry.
DraftKings Scoring
DraftKings’ roster, rules and scoring settings are excellent and match up well compared to the other industry leaders. Most importantly, the scoring systems and roster format feel well-balanced and fair to the players.
DraftKings’ MLB roster settings are the most similar to FanDuel’s, so many players will already be well-acquainted to this roster approach. The only difference is that an additional, second starting pitcher is required to be selected within the $50,000 budget. There are no utility positions or relief pitchers.
Here’s the full breakdown for how a DraftKings baseball lineup would be scored:
Team Rosters
— Rosters will consist of 10 players and must include players scheduled to play in at least 2 different MLB games.
— Rosters must have no more than 5 hitters from any one MLB team.
— The 10 roster positions are: P, P, C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, OF, OF, OF
Scoring – Hitters
— Single = 3
— Double = 5
— Triple = 8
— Home Run = 10
— Runs Batted In = 2
— Run = 2
— Walk = 2
— Hit By Pitch = 2
— Stolen Base = 5
Scoring – Pitchers
— Inning Pitched = 2.25
— Strike Out = 2
— Win = 4
— Earned Run Allowed = -2
— Hit Against = -0.6
— Base On Balls Against = -0.6
— Hit Batsman = -0.6
— Complete Game = 2.5
— Complete Game Shut Out = 2.5
— No Hitter = 5
DraftKings’ NFL and College Football scoring systems are fairly standard, with the exception of their unique bonuses. Bonuses are awarded to Quarterbacks who throw for over 300 yards, Running Backs who rush for over 100 yards, and Wide Receivers who have over 100 yards receiving each week. The bonus for achieving any of these goals is 3 added points and adds an extra element to the daily games.
The scoring systems for NBA and College Basketball are identical, and the roster format is similar as well. Similar to the bonuses offered in football, players can earn extra points for double-doubles and triple-doubles, which can easily swing the balance of a tight competition.
If you’re interested in more info on how to win at DraftKings, check out our general guides in the “DraftKings Strategy” sidebar on the right. Otherwise, let’s dive into the actual functionality and experience you’ll have if you decide to play on DraftKings.
Interface and User Experience
Overall, DraftKings’ site is intuitive and easily navigated. However, occasionally the site has lag issues in the hour or so before kick-off on an NFL Sunday when the site has the most traffic. But most experiences are free from bugs or glitches while playing. It takes only a few minutes to become acquainted with the site and you’ll quickly be creating your money-making lineups.
Contest Selection
The lobby might be overwhelming to new players, but is easily mastered after a few minutes of using it. The filtering is top notch and allows users to exclude the content types they don’t wish to enter. The advanced filter can be hard to spot at first, but the usability is excellent once you find it. Trying to spot guaranteed or multi-entry tournaments isn’t as intuitive as the color-coordinated approach that FanDuel takes, but this is mitigated by the ability to filter only guaranteed tournaments. You are also permitted to filter by field size, or even search by keyword, ‘million’ for example. You can click on “My Contests” to view Live, Upcoming, or Completed Contests. Entry history can also be found here and you can download all contests you have entered for a period of time you specify. This is invaluable for tracking your success in the various formats.
Showdown Contests
Introduced early in 2018 for NFL Showdown contests have exploded in popularity. When the format was created there is no doubt that the Super Bowl was the driving factor. With only one game, and the largest audience of the year, DraftKings was being left on the sidelines because of their policy requiring users to select players playing in at least two different games.
When Showdown was first rolled out users were required to pick 4 offensive players and 2 defensive players (IDP) in their lineups. Over time the format has evolved and that feature has been eliminated in favor of the more familiar approach of taking the entire defense as a unit. Experienced players would probably argue this is to their detriment, but as is often the case with DraftKings that is entirely the point. It has also been rebranded as Showdown Captain Mode largely to create a larger number of possible lineup combinations to avoid ties amongst hundreds of people at the top of the leaderboard. Another major difference in Showdown Captain Mode is you select a captain who earns 1.5x the points but also costs 1.5x the salary, adding another layer to the decision making when constructing lineups. These contests are geared towards fans who are planning to watch one game and aren’t interested in researching an entire day’s worth of games to get in on the action.
This new contest variation cracked open a door for Draftkings and they have kicked that door in, expanding it far past just Super Sunday in to all prime time NFL games as well as several other sports. Golf enthusiasts are some of the biggest beneficiaries, not only has Weekend Golf encompassing the final two rounds been added to the mix but Showdown contests are now available on days 1/2/3/4 of tournaments weekly.
Tiers Contests
Originally branded as Pick’em, Tiers was launched in 2017. Tiers contests have no salaries attached and are very similar to a traditional box pool where you pick one player to outperform other players in his grouping. Each contest varies but generally there are 6-8 Tiers with between 4-8 players in each tier. To play you simply select the player you think will accrue the most fantasy points within each specific tier. Lineups can be built in seconds because the pool of available players is much smaller and salary is not a consideration. The scoring system for NFL/MLB/NBA/NHL Tiers is identical to the “classic” versions. Late swap is permitted in almost all Tiers contests, there is an exception for some NBA contests which will be labelled NBA Tiers Non Late Swap.
Lineup Building
The lineup building process is easy to use and looks fantastic too. The player profile pages are some of the most thorough available in daily fantasy. They show player stats including recent fantasy point performances. Then, you can see recent play news in a box to the bottom-left as well as sport-related tweets to the bottom right. For example, the Steph Curry player card shown below has information about Curry on the left and information from around the NBA on the right.
While the player cards look amazing, at times, they are lacking some key information for decision making, depending on the sport. While users are provided with a bevy of information, some of it isn’t helpful for daily fantasy decisions and is missing several key features. The following examples apply for baseball, but can be extrapolated to apply to other sports. The information provided does not display the handedness of the batter/pitcher. This is a crucial missing feature, as DFS players will always be looking to exploit platoon advantages. The splits tab is limited to home/away stats, which is disappointing since it could have been a real game-changer if it included more information. The matchup tab only includes a summary level view of the opposition instead of the individual pitcher that the player will be facing.
At the same time, DraftKings provides useful data that some other daily fantasy sites do not. The depth chart feature is very helpful for NHL contests where lineups frequently change and being on top of current lineups is a key to success. In the NFL checking the inactives for the game and then consulting the depth chart feature within the DK app is also helpful.
The “Export to CSV” button allows players to export the salaries into a format that can be manipulated using a program like Excel. This is invaluable for players looking to do some advanced analysis based on player salaries or values. The ability to import or export lineups is also there, a nice touch for players who play with multiple entries or in multiple contests.
They also offer import and export lineup options for mass editing without leaving the site as well as the ability to “global player replace”, where you can quickly view all of the players you selected across all lineups and replace one player in all lineups. While generally helpful, this feature can be quite annoying in a specific scenario that happens quite often. If you are attempting to swap out a player at the last moment because of injury on many lineups the interface won’t allow you to swap in a player who is priced higher, say $5100 instead of $4900 even if you have the available cap space on many teams. You would manually have to adjust those teams to the higher priced player or use the CSV edit feature instead. It seems like this would be easy to fix and its disappointing this feature hasn’t been improved.
Late-Swap
For the RotoGrinders community, this feature is one of the best the site has to offer. While other major sites lock their rosters when the first game of the day starts, DraftKings allows you to edit your lineups throughout the day until each individual player begins their game. Late-Swap gives players the ultimate control over their lineups and allows them to take some risks that would otherwise be off the table. This feature is a must-have for hardcore daily grinders.
Mobile Support
DraftKings also has an impressive mobile experience where you can easily log in, join leagues, see your results, and edit lineups from your mobile device. For most sports, users are given an opportunity to edit their players with late swap up until their individual game starts, so the ability to change out a player on your mobile device is perfect! Golf is a notable exception with all players being locked as soon as the first golfer of the day tees off.
Here’s a list of capabilities available on DK Mobile:
- Contests Lobby Where You Can Enter Events
- View “My Account” Information
- Deposit Funds
- View Contests You Have Entered (Current, Upcoming and Past)
- Edit Your Lineups from Mobile Device
- Promotions for each sport
- Daily Missions
Mobile App
In addition to a mobile-optimized website, DraftKings offers a mobile app for IOS users. Versions are available both iPhone and iPad devices. The app is intuitive and makes managing your teams on the fly even easier than ever before! The app mimics the functionality found on the mobile website and features the additional capabilities as well.
The list of features is shown below:
- Contests Lobby (Updated in real time)
- View “My Account” Information
- Deposit Funds
- View Contests You Have Entered (Current, Upcoming and Past)
- Edit Your Lineups from within the app
- Invite your contacts to play on DraftKings
- Share links to individual contests
The mobile app is the first of its kind and really separates DraftKings from the pack when it comes to mobile usability. The application is updated on a regular basis and should continue to offer must-have additional features going forward.
DraftKings Customer Service
DraftKings is committed to providing its customers with top-level service that is unmatched in the industry. Currently they are available via email (support@draftkings.com) and mailing addresses are also listed on their site. Their customer support business hours are shown below and have been expanded by an additional 4 hours on weekdays and an additional 10 hours on weekends:
- Monday – Friday 6:00 AM EST – 11:59 PM EST
- Saturday & Sunday 6:00 AM EST – 11:59 PM EST
Rake
If you’re going to be playing a lot of daily fantasy games, then you might want to familiarize yourself with the “rake” that sites take. Rake essentially is a commission taken by a site in the form of a percentage of each user’s entry fee.
DraftKings’ rake is fairly standard for what you’ll see across the industry. Here is a chart of their rake for Heads-Up Games which have remained consistent for a few years now:
| DraftKings Buy-in | DraftKings Rake % |
|---|---|
| $2.00 | 10% |
| $5.00 | 10% |
| $10.00 | 10% |
| $20.00 | 10% |
| $50.00 | 10% |
| $109.00 | 8.26% |
| $215.00 | 6.98% |
| $530.00 | 5.66% |
Rake for GPPs has increased in recent years and can be seen in the snapshot below for the upcoming Showdown contests for the Super Bowl. It is in orange text and labelled margin in the Rotogrinders chrome extension I have installed:
DraftKings Customer Loyalty Programs
Crowns
DraftKings has its own currency which has replaced Frequent Player Points (FPPs) and can be accumulated in the following ways:
- Entering paid contests
- Claiming daily rewards
- Completing daily missions
- Being awarded achievement badges.
Achievements
Recently DraftKings has rolled out an achievements program that is similar to many popular video games and is clearly targeted towards recreational players. Each achievement varies in difficulty and reward. You can be rewarded for the number of contests entered, or number of days/weeks that you have entered a contest consecutively. Rewards are paid out in Crowns, DraftKings own on site currency, and can be used for purchasing contest tickets. The Crowns themselves are not worth very much – in order to purchase a $20 ticket you need 11 000 Crowns. 550 crowns are worth a dollar, 5.5 crowns are worth 1 cent. If you enter NBA contests in consecutive weeks you will be awarded 20 crowns, or almost 4 cents! The promotion is a good idea at its core, but the level of reward to players leaves something to be desired. With the value of the crowns being so low a recreational player could spend a lot of money chasing rewards that are of almost no monetary value.
Daily Rewards
In order to receive daily rewards you have to click on the daily rewards button on the Rewards dropdown menu. Your reward for each day depends on your status which is calculated monthly.
The status tiers are as follows:
Missions
Missions are also available to be completed on a daily basis and are personalized based on your play. The amount of Crowns you will receive for completing your mission will vary.
DraftKings Promo Code and Cashier Options
With DraftKings’ corporate background and venture capital, you can rest assured that their cashier comes with credibility. It is important for sites to give its customers a variety of reliable deposit and withdrawal options, and DraftKings does not disappoint. Accepted payment types include: credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, AMEX, Discover), PayPal, and Dwolla. They offer instant deposits and swift payouts! There is a $5 minimum deposit and no maximum withdrawal.
Sign-up bonuses on the site include a free $3 contest entry upon your first deposit. No DraftKings promo code is necessary to access this sign-up bonus. Just be sure to click through a RotoGrinders link when creating your account. If you sign up through one of our links, you’ll also receive a comped 3-month subscription to RotoGrinders Premium for DraftKings. That’s an additional $105 value, FREE. Just click here to get started.
DraftKings Tournaments and Special Events
DraftKings has stepped up its game by offering several huge promotions recently,with millions in prize money. While they have specialized in online-only events, they also offer a number of live final events throughout the year. These live finals offer multi-million dollar prize pools and take place in across North America.
Each major sport tends to have a flagship event, and many of them feature a live final that competitors must qualify for, no direct buy ins. These include:
Fantasy Football World Championship (FFWC)
- Most recently held in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida in December 2018
- Boasted a $10 million dollar prize pool
- $2 million 1st place prize
- Qualifiers also competed in a 100k FFWC Showdown Contest as part of the package
- 180 Qualifiers
Fantasy Baseball World Championship (FBBWC)
- Most recently held in New York CIty, New York in August 2018
- $4 million dollar prize pool
- $500k 1st place prize
- Qualifiers also competed in a 100k FFWC Showdown Contest as part of the package
- 135 Qualifiers
Fantasy Basketball World Championship (FBWC)
- Being held in San Francisco, California in March 2019
- $4 million dollar prize pool.
- 500k 1st place prize
- 100 Qualifiers
Fantasy Hockey World Championship (FHWC)
- Bheld in Washington, D.C in March 2019
- 400k prize pool
- 100k 1st place prize
- 40 Qualifiers
Entrants receive $1000 spending money to use for flights to get to the event and are generally given a 3 night stay in an upscale hotel where the event is being held. Most food and beverage is also included at welcoming and watch parties for qualifiers and their +1s. Truly a unique experience for those fortunate enough to win a seat.
Steps Tournaments
The same exciting tournament-style from Online Poker has arrived to the Daily Fantasy scene, thanks to DraftKings. You can jump in at Step 1 for $2.00 and work your way to the top two to win $200 CASH. Steps tournaments are a 4-level series of contests with continually higher buy-ins, peaking with cash prizes at the last step. The goal is to advance at each step by winning a ticket to the next level. No need to worry about advancing on your first attempt, as contests also award tickets to retry the same step and contests at each step run every day! For the impatient, you can simply buy in directly to any step so you don’t have to start at the bottom.
Sports Betting
In June of 2018 sports betting was legalized in New Jersey. DraftKings began taking sports bets through their mobile app on August 6th and was the first in the state to do so. Their brick and mortar partner is Resorts Casino in Atlantic City. The long awaited legislation has been a boon to the casino industry and the affiliated DFS operators. The large database of players from daily fantasy has translated very well to their sportsbook operation. They have also successfully held satellites to the Sports Betting National Championship on the DraftKings daily fantasy site, helping to fill out the event.
As more states approve legislation to legalize sports betting you can be assured that there will be more crossover between the two platforms. Very recently the DraftKings sportsbook has introduced Super Bowl Squares, taking advantage of the massive popularity of the game played in living rooms and bars across America. For now the contest is free to play and boasts cash prizes in excess of $50 000, but as time goes on you can bet there will be paid contests and they will be extremely popular.
Sports Betting National Championship
The first DraftKings Sports Betting National Championship took place in Jersey City, New Jersey January 11th-13th 2019. Each competitor had to put up $5000 to go towards the prize pool and an additional $5000 to act as their bankroll for the event. The payout structure for the event was exactly like that of a typical DraftKings GPP. Additional event details:
- 156 Direct Buy ins
- 92 DFS Qualifiers
- 12 Entries awarded via social media and other contests
- All players get to take home their final bankroll in addition to any prize money awarded from the prize pool
- $2.5 million guaranteed
- $1 million first prize
DraftKings Partnerships
Over the years, DraftKings has formed a number of partnerships throughout the larger sports industry. These range from professional franchises, to entire leagues. Read below for details on a few of these agreements.
DraftKings Partnerships with MLB and NHL
2014 saw massive growth across the daily fantasy sports industry. As DraftKings emerged as a powerhouse in the space, it began to compete with other sites (most notably FanDuel) to grow its visibility as much as possible. This included DraftKings forming partnerships with professional sports teams and entire leagues.
While DraftKings has a number of notable partnerships in place, the most monumental agreement came in May 2014, when Major League Baseball announced that the site would become the “Official Mini Fantasy Game of MLB.com.” There was a multi year extension and expansion of this agreement in April of 2015 where MLB promised to promote DraftKings across all of its platforms including MLB TV streaming service. As part of the agreement select MLB teams also provided experiences, like throwing out the first pitch that were awarded to targeted freeroll winners within specific markets. DraftKings followed up this announcement in November 2014 by forming a four-year pact with the National Hockey League to “serve as the Official Daily Fantasy Game of the NHL.” With the four year deal nearing its end DraftKings will have to contend with their nearest competitor FanDuel who became the official sports betting partner for the NHL in late 2018.
What do you think? We hope this DraftKings review was helpful. If you want to ask other, real daily fantasy players what they think, just make a post in our RotoGrinders Forum.
Otherwise, get started playing on DraftKings by clicking through this link and creating an account!
With recent changes to sports betting laws in the United States, be sure to check out details on DraftKings Sportsbook here.
Enjoy the games!