What Is Fantasy Football And How Does It Work

Fantasy football is a game that uses real NFL players stats each week during the regular season to acrew fantasy points that make up a fictitious league based on those fantasy points. 

The majority of offensive players are drafted to a team before the season starts and every week these teams that are drafted will face off against one another until the playoffs that will ultimately crown a winner of the league. 

Fantasy football leagues are popular among groups of friends, family, or even random people on the internet who get together to form a league. 

Being in a fantasy football league can be a great way to keep in touch with friends and family and is additionally a great hobby that can make the NFL season more enjoyable.

How Much Does Fantasy Football Cost

Fantasy football is free if you want it to be, or it can be played for money as well. The majority, and the biggest companies that offer fantasy football platforms via an app or website, will have a ton of free options to play on. 

The biggest players in the space are ESPN, Yahoo, CBS, NFL, and Sleeper. They all offer free options, but there are ways to make them paid as well for those who want to be able to win money. 

If you are not interested in playing for money, then it is recommended to play on one of these sites for free and you will still enjoy the full fantasy football experience.

What Day Does Fantasy Football Start

The first day of fantasy football each year begins following the kickoff time of the first game of the regular season in week one. 

Many people may think that the fantasy and NFL season would start on a Sunday but it is commonly on the Thursday before the main slate of games that come week one on Sunday. 

This year, in 2022, the fantasy and NFL season will kickoff on Thursday, September 8th.

Can You Bet On Fantasy Football

In most cases betting on fantasy football is legal. It would be recommended to do your own research and come to a decision on if the type of betting you are doing around fantasy football is indeed legal, however. 

While you don’t have to pay for fantasy football, many people do in the sense that everyone in the free league they signed up for puts down a small sum of money that goes to the winner or is split between the top winners in the league at the end. 

Is Fantasy Football Considered Gambling

Fantasy football should not be considered gambling in all cases, especially since the majority of people who play do it in free leagues where there are no fees. 

It could be considered gambling if there is a fee to join the league where there is a prize for the winner or winners at the end of the season. 

Best Money Fantasy Football Leagues

While most websites and apps don’t force you to pay to play, there are some that do offer fantasy leagues that require an entry fee to be paid directly on the website. 

The best site that offers this service has been Sleeper for the past few years. 

This site has come up to compete with some of the big fantasy sites like ESPN and Yahoo due to their wide offering of fantasy contests that they have as well as these paid leagues. 

Does Fantasy Football Require Money

There are paid fantasy football sites and even free fantasy football sites that the league commissioners will require money be paid outside of the site, but there are plenty of sites where fantasy football can be played for free on as well. 

The majority of fantasy football leagues and sites are free to play.

Is ESPN Fantasy Football Free

Yes, ESPN specifically only has free fantasy football leagues that can be created by anyone or even joined by anyone to any league that has an open registration set. 

Money can be used as an entry fee to the leagues outside of the site, but it is not necessary and is up to the league members and commissioner to set the rules before the league begins.

Does CBS Fantasy Football Cost Money

CBS is one of the biggest fantasy football websites out there that does offer a paid service. 

They also do offer a free to play fantasy football league, but their paid version called the ‘Football Commissioner’ has added features that are not found on a lot of other sites. 

Does FanDuel Cost Money

FanDuel does cost money to play their daily fantasy sports where users can make a new lineup everyday. 

They also offer a best ball paid fantasy football league tournament for the entire season where users pay up front to win prizes at the end of the year. 

How Much Does Fantasy Football Cost

For those who don’t want to pay anything, there are tons of sites and even some of the best ones that can be played 100% for free. 

For those who want to put more on the line, they can set up free leagues to have side bets off of the site or also join paid leagues on various other sites that do offer that. 

Is Fantasy Sports Gambling

While some people do consider fantasy sports gambling, it doesn’t have to be as there are tons of free fantasy sports leagues that people play without the risk of losing any money or paying anything to play at all. 

There are people who do like to put down league dues before the season that rewards the winner, or winners, of the league a portion of the league dues that were collected up front. 

It definitely could be considered gambling if you play in this version of fantasy football where you are essentially betting that you will make your money back or more from the league dues you put down in the beginning of the year come the end of the season.

Additionally, there are various websites out there that allow you to put money down directly on the site. Anyone can play these for an entire season or there is also daily fantasy sports where players can bet money every single day in hopes of making a profit. 

Fantasy Football Gambling Sites

The main site for regular fantasy football leagues where money can be put down ahead of the season to collect at the end of the year if they are one of the winners is Sleeper. 

On Sleeper players can set up their own league or even join random leagues that are left open by whoever created them to have anyone join for the cost they set up to join. 

The next fantasy football gambling sites where a lot of people gamble on are best ball sites. One of the main ones in Underdog as well as Drafters. 

Best ball leagues are a little different than gambling on a site like Sleeper where players are gambling on a traditional fantasy football league. 

Sites like Underdog and Drafters offer best ball leagues in which players draft more players per team but there are no trades or pickups like a traditional fantasy football league. 

Teams will use the score from their best players on the roster each week.

Other sites that offer best ball are FanDuel and Draftkings, but that is not their main fantasy football gambling offering. 

These sites started as daily fantasy sports sites where players could enter a new lineup everyday that costs a fee where they could potentially win money. 

Is Daily Fantasy Sports Considered Gambling

Daily fantasy sports was made popular by sites such as FanDuel and Draftkings. 

They technically are not considered gambling because they are based on a bunch of different players’ stats and thus are considered games of skill and not gambling. 

If you personally consider entering money into something that has a prize for the players who do the best with a risk of losing it all, then it could be considered gambling under that definition.

Fantasy Football Gambling Addiction

Gambling addiction is without a doubt a very serious issue. If you or anyone you know seems to have an addiction with gambling it should be taken very seriously. 

People can lose everything they have if they are addicted to gambling.

While most people don’t think or consider fantasy football as something that gamblers would be addicted to, it most definitely can happen. 

New sites allow people to gamble on fantasy football and daily fantasy sports have been around for a long time that allow people to wager every single day. 

Even if you don’t consider daily fantasy sports gambling, people can still lose money on it everyday and there are high limits of how much they can bet on each contest.

Conclusion

To wrap this up cleanly, fantasy football does not cost money unless you want it to. The majority of people who play fantasy football do not spend any money to play or join a league. 

Others who can be more serious about it will wager a set amount at the beginning of the year, usually to make the league more fun and interesting. 

Whether you play in paid leagues where you can win money or play for free, it can be enjoyable either way.