# Fanduel.com. How is this not gambling?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fanduel-com-how-is-this-not-gambling/687685>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [May 5, 2014, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fanduel-com-how-is-this-not-gambling/687685 "2014-05-05T02:09:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2014, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fanduel-com-how-is-this-not-gambling/687685/1 "2014-05-05T02:09:02Z")

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Has anyone played on [fanduel.com](http://fanduel.com)?

As I understand it, you pick a new fantasy team every day, and you win or lose money based on how your fantasy team did compared to whoever you are up against (I guess).

Their commercials and home page on the web show a guy who has earned over $500k. How is this possible without being a gambling site?

You have to open an account, and I believe you have to have a minimum balance…,say $200. This is different than on-line poker how exactly?

Thanks.

Oh, and I suppose this could be in GQ, but I figured it would get much more interest in the Game Room.

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**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2014, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fanduel-com-how-is-this-not-gambling/687685/2 "2014-05-05T12:00:52Z")

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It appears that some states do consider it gambling and they’ve had to restrict access to players from there.

> **[FanDuel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FanDuel)**
>
> FanDuel Group is an American gambling company that offers sportsbook, daily fantasy sports, horse racing, and online casino. The company operates sportsbooks in a number of states including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana and West Virginia, as well as an online horse race betting platform, and a daily fantasy sports service.
> The company was originally founded as a daily fantasy sports provider, and principally competed with DraftKings. In May 2018, amid the widening legalization of sports bett...

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**Author:** ![PatriotGrrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9dc877/32.png) [@PatriotGrrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotGrrrl)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2014, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fanduel-com-how-is-this-not-gambling/687685/3 "2014-05-05T14:03:25Z")

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Because the government says it’s not. Lots of things are what they are just because the government says so.

And you don’t have to have any minimum balance. There is a minimum amount ($25 IIRC) you can deposit to start an account, but you don’t even have to do that if you only want to play the free games (which have no prize money).