The $500 Spare Change: $1 Regular Contest Starting Next Monday on Fanduel
Those with more limited bankrolls, or looking to get rid of that odd amount left in their account after all of their contests are filled, can now rejoice! FanDuel has announced the $500 Spare Change, a regularly occurring $1 entry fee, Large-Field contest. This particular contest has a $500 guaranteed prize pool, and will begin this Monday, August 8th at 7:05 EST. The contest allows for multiple entries, and is capped at 555 Entrants making a maximum rake potential of 11%.
We have seen regular freerolls from Daily Fantasy sites in the past. We’ve also seen SportsGeek offer a $2 daily, FSL offer $1 no-rake contests, and $2 GPPs on DraftStreet, but this is the first micro-stakes, regularly-scheduled tourney we’ve seen the current industry leader, FanDuel, offer.
Alex ‘Zoobird’ Zelvin, a representative of FanDuel told me that while this particular contest is “mainly to let people round off funky balances”, that FanDuel is in fact “looking at whether they want to add micro-stakes contests more broadly on FanDuel for standard contests.”
In my personal opinion, this is a big step in the right direction for the industry leader. It will lead to more options for newer players with smaller bankrolls, and will help sustain the growth of the game. I anticipate it being a success, and seeing more micro-contests moving forward. My only complaints with the Spare Change as it stands are that it allows for Multiple Entries and that it is only held once a week. I would like to see the number of entries capped at 1-4, maintaining a more fair competition level for new players in the event, while still allowing the ability for players to round out their balances (since $5 contests are offered, there’s no need for more than 4 to be allowed). I’d also like to see it held daily, not weekly, so you can increase beginner action and have ‘round-off’ capability every single day.
The first $500 Spare Change starts Monday, August 8th, and is regularly scheduled for every Monday on FanDuel moving forward. Here is the payout structure for the event:
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1st | $50 |
| 2nd | $35 |
| 3rd | $25 |
| 4th – 13th | $15 |
| 14th – 24th | $10 |
| 25th – 50th | $5 |
Cameron MacMillan
RotoGrinders.com Fantasy Content Manager