Launching In 19 States, Mojo Fantasy Marries DFS With Sports Betting
Mojo launched in New Jersey a little less than a year ago. The company – which bills itself as a stock market for sports in the state – allows users to buy and sell “stock” in players. The share price goes up and down depending on performance and demand.
Additionally, bettors can buy and sell game and player props like options throughout a game.
And it was that last bit there that served as the whisper of an idea for a new product launching in time for the start of the NFL season: Mojo Fantasy, which marries daily fantasy sports guaranteed prize pools and 50/50s with player prop betting.
The idea is simple enough: Join a GPP or a 50/50 – called “In the Green” and “Double Up,” respectively – and pick at least four different player props with a fake bankroll. Some props are more expensive than others, depending on the odds. You can also decide how much to spend on each prop. Your score will depend on how well you do in your picks.
Furthermore, you can choose more than four props, and you will have the ability to trade in and out of your positions. This makes traditional DFS “late swap” look like child’s play, as profits can be locked in – and losses cut – all the way through the final whistle.
Prop traders
“Every game will have a couple of hundred player props, so there might be a couple of thousand props you can choose from depending on the slate,” Mojo CEO and co-founder Vinit Bharara told RotoGrinders. “You get a salary cap, you take those fake salary dollars and allocate them to a minimum of four player props. And the values during the game will change, and you’ll see your portfolio value rise and fall.”
For example: Let’s say “Saquon Barkley‘s rushing yardage prop”:https://www.scoresandodds.com/prop-bets/328607/saquon-barkley is set at 82.5 and you like the over. You would allocate some of your salary cap to this pick – for ease of explanation, let’s say the prop is 50/50, and you’re spending $50 fake bucks.
Now let’s say Barkley rumbles for 75 yards on the first play. All of a sudden, that prop is no longer trading at 50/50 – it’s probably trading at 95/5, or thereabouts. At this point, you can sell your Barkley share and collect your “fake” $95 and see your portfolio climb the standings. Then, you have two choices: You can lock in the profit, or buy another prop.
“It’s the only fantasy product you can live trade,” Bharara said. “If he’s doing well, you can reap your profits on your portfolio, or if he’s doing bad, you can cut your losses.”
DFS paves path to key states
The product will be live, to start, in 19 states and Washington, D.C.: Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
What’s crazy is this: This was not the original idea for Mojo.
“It wasn’t the plan to launch fantasy when we started, but when you start operating in this world, and see the traction we’re getting in New Jersey, people on the app for hours, customer retention high, I really want to get some version of this available, and the quickest way to do this is under the fantasy rules,” Bharara said.
So quite accidentally, Mojo has married DFS and sports betting.
As for the basics of the payout structure, the double-ups are standard: If your portfolio finishes in the top half of the standings, you double your money.
The GPPs are a little more detailed. If your portfolio makes money, you are guaranteed to cash out. But the better your portfolio does, the better your payout. Winning all four of your props will guarantee you money, but someone who is a daredevil and trading in and out all day Sunday might find themselves at a big advantage – assuming, of course, they are winning.
“The key thing here is you’re not betting against the house, the only way you can win is by beating other people,” Bharara said. “It’s a skill-based contest. It’s all based on how everyone else does. There’s no house, no fixed odds, it’s all about how you do against other people. It’s a contest around the sportsbook, which we think is really innovative.”