Yahoo Launches Daily Fantasy Sports Product
Yahoo has officially rolled out their daily fantasy sports product across both mobile and web platforms, and they have provided more details on their DFS offering on our forums.
The long-time home of season-long daily fantasy announced their intentions to enter the daily game earlier this year, and today marks the beginning of their adventure into the DFS industry.
Any speculation that Yahoo would be offering some sort of unique take on DFS has been somewhat quieted by this release, as the lobby currently offers the typical spread of salary-cap games to choose from with payout structures that are a bit top-heavy in tournaments, but otherwise seem typical of the rest of the industry. Cash games have a standard 10% rake, and tournament rakes seem to be similar to those on the other major DFS sites.
For MLB contests, late-swap is possible for players whose games have not yet begun. Lineups can include stacks of up to six players from the same team, and players from three different teams must be used.
Scoring for MLB contests is a bit unique, with pitchers awarded points per out, with a bonus for strikeouts, a penalty for earned runs, and a win bonus. Two pitchers are selected in the Yahoo daily MLB game. Batters receive no negative points, and earn as many points for a base hit as a walk, with stolen bases worth a sizeable bonus as well.
The app requests location services to verify that the user is currently in a state where DFS is legal, and deposits are made via credit card or PayPal.
The company put out a press release shortly after the launch of the product which included the following: “With today’s launch, Yahoo becomes the first major sports site and the only technology company of its scale to offer its own Daily Fantasy experience.” The company also stressed its commitment to providing an all-in-one fantasy experience (including season-long and daily games along with their analysis and news) across all platforms.
Yahoo Daily Fantasy Sports can be accessed on mobile by updating the Yahoo Fantasy app or downloading it from the app store, or on the web at the Yahoo Sports website.