Daily fantasy sports contests are available for play in Georgia. Indeed, while Georgians wait and see whether sports betting might become legal in the state, DFS provides them with an entertaining and legal way to test their sports acumen right now.
Daily fantasy sports contests invite fans to create their own lineups of players and to compete against others to see who has built the best performing fantasy team. As the name suggests, the contests begin and end in a single day. Even better, many DFS contests attract large player pools that can create some significant prizes.
Here is an overview of everything you need to know about daily fantasy sports in Georgia, including a rundown of the best daily fantasy sports apps and sites, what types of contests and sports are available, information about how to get an account and start playing, and more.
Are daily fantasy sports legal in Georgia?
Yes, you can enter daily fantasy sports contests from Georgia. However, like a lot of states, Georgia has no specific DFS-related legislation on the books. In other words, Georgia has neither legalized nor outlawed fantasy sports, meaning it technically exists in a legal gray area. As a result, all of the major daily fantasy sports sites currently accept players from Georgia, including DraftKings and FanDuel.
During the mid-2010s the state attorney general’s office issued “informal advice” that fantasy sports were not authorized by Georgia gambling law. At that time, some lawmakers pursued legislation to legalize DFS in the state, but none of the proposed bills advanced to the point of becoming law.
At present, Georgia legislators are exploring the possibility of legalizing sports betting. So far, proposed bills have mentioned fantasy sports without offering specifics, indicating DFS could become part of that discussion at some future date. Meanwhile, FanDuel opened a new operations hub in midtown Atlanta in 2022, partnering with Georgia colleges and universities to offer technology training and other opportunities.
For now, then, Georgia remains without any law either authorizing or prohibiting fantasy sports. Georgians are free to enter daily fantasy sports contests on a variety of sites.
Best daily fantasy sports apps in Georgia
There are a number of daily fantasy sports apps available to players in Georgia. When you register for an account at a DFS site, you can either enter contests using the web-based browser version on a desktop or laptop, or use the app and play from your mobile device.
In most cases, DFS apps make locating desired contests and entering them very simple. You can also perform all the banking operations via the app, making it easy to fund your account and withdraw any winnings. Available Georgia daily fantasy sports apps include the following:
- DraftKings
- FanDuel
- Betr Picks
- PrizePicks
- ParlayPlay DFS
- Yahoo Fantasy Sports
What are the best daily fantasy sports apps? Out of these, DraftKings and FanDuel are easily the most popular DFS apps among Georgians. Well over 90% of daily fantasy sports players are entering contests on those two sites. That said, the other sites have positive aspects, as well, including some distinct games and ways to play DFS not available on the larger sites.
What’s the differences between fantasy sports and sports betting?
Daily fantasy sports resemble traditional sports betting in certain ways. Both involve placing wagers and learning outcomes soon after the games are complete. However, there are a number of significant differences that set DFS apart.
For one thing, daily fantasy sports contests essentially always take place online, whereas traditional sports betting happens at both retail and online sportsbooks. Also, sports betting often involves betting on a team or player to win a particular game or to cover a certain point spread. However, with daily fantasy sports, you are instead wagering on how individual players perform, which means game results often don’t matter.
If you place a moneyline bet on the Atlanta Hawks to win against the Miami Heat, you’re obviously rooting for the Hawks to come out on top. But if you’ve chosen Atlanta’s Trae Young and Miami’s Jimmy Butler for your DFS lineup, you care more about how many points, rebounds and assists those two collect than you do which team wins the game.
Since DFS contests focus on individual performances, it might make you think of individual proposition bets or “prop bets” in traditional sports betting. However, in daily fantasy sports, you are always betting on the performance of multiple players, not just one.
When entering a DFS contest, you create a lineup of players from multiple teams to create your own personal team. That’s where the term “fantasy” comes in — you are building an imaginary team that doesn’t exist in reality. The statistical performances of your chosen players determine how many points your team scores and thus whether you finish high enough to win cash in the contest.
DFS rules require you to select players from two or more teams when setting your lineup. In other words, you aren’t allowed to pick a lineup consisting of nothing but Atlanta Braves in an MLB fantasy contest. You have to have at least one player from another team in your lineup. That difference helps ensure DFS cannot be too close to traditional sports betting, which is important in a state like Georgia where sports betting is not legal.
How to play daily fantasy sports in Georgia
Learning how to play daily fantasy sports is easy, and the top DFS sites provide a lot of helpful information explaining how to select contests, pick your players, submit your lineups, follow the action and see your results. Your first step, of course, is to register for an account.
How to register for a DFS account
Signing up for a daily fantasy sports account is free and typically only takes a minute or two. First find the “Register” or “Sign Up” button or something similar, then follow the steps to create your account.
Typically you’ll need to provide some personal information. This helps ensure you are who you say you are. In most states, including Georgia, you need to be at least 18 years old to play real money daily fantasy sports. You’ll need to confirm that while sharing other info:
- Full name
- Birthdate
- Physical address
- Email address
You will also need to create a username and password and agree to the site’s terms and conditions. That’s typically all that is necessary to create your account. Then, when you’re ready to start entering contests, you’ll need to deposit funds into your account with which to play the games.
How to deposit funds into a DFS account
Most daily fantasy sites provide a number of options both to deposit funds into your account and to withdraw money later. Some of the deposit methods generally include:
- Online banking (via your banking institution)
- Credit and debit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express)
- Electronic gift cards
- Prepaid cards
- E-wallets (e.g., PayPal)
You’ll find that you can withdraw funds using many of these same methods, though not all of them. Online banking and PayPal are popular withdrawal methods. You can also often have the site mail you a check.
We recommend you spend a little time researching the available banking methods before even registering for a DFS account. That way you can be sure not to run into any trouble later once you decide you want to start entering contests.
Entering DFS contests
Once you have funded your account, you can check the site’s lobby and look for contests to enter.
You can filter contests by sport and/or by type of contest (see below). You can also filter by the entry fee, which makes it easy to find contests that fit within your budget. Some contests cost only $0.25 to enter, and many are a dollar or less.
Very often you will also see a number of free DFS contests. Some of these will have cash prizes. Even if there are no prizes involved, these free contests can be useful when first getting started, as they help you learn how to set a lineup and other aspects of DFS play.
Having found a contest you want to play, you then build your lineup by choosing players. Usually, the players’ names will appear alongside a US dollar amount. You get a salary cap or maximum amount of dollars with which to “buy” players that you assemble as your team. This maximum makes it necessary to be selective with your choices, preventing you from simply taking only the best players for your team.
After you have set your team and submitted it, you can still change your lineup right up until the contest deadline, which is typically just before that day’s games begin. You can also usually unregister from contests before that deadline as well if you change your mind and don’t want to play. When you unregister for a contest before it begins, the money you paid before gets automatically put back into your account.
Following the action in DFS contests
One of the most entertaining aspects of playing daily fantasy sports is following how your team is doing. As the games play out, every player’s statistical performance gets translated into fantasy points. For example, in an NBA contest, every point, 3-pointer, rebound, assist, steal and block increases a player’s fantasy point total, as might the player achieving a double-double or triple-double, while a turnover decreases that total.
The DFS site automatically calculates all players’ fantasy point totals, refreshing them constantly while also updating your team total and the contest standings. Often, the site will display how much you stand to win at any given moment, although payouts aren’t settled until the last games are complete and all of the players’ totals are final.
Playing daily fantasy sports can be exciting when you find yourself high on the leaderboard as the last games are nearing their completion. You’ll be rooting for just one more basket or strikeout or completed a pass to give your team enough points to move up on the leaderboard, perhaps even into first place.
What DFS contests are available in Georgia?
There are lots of types of DFS contests available. Here are a few of the most popular ones.
Guaranteed prize pools (GPPs)
Daily fantasy sports contests with guaranteed prize pools are ones in which the prize pool is guaranteed no matter how many players participate. Usually, the top 10% to 20% of finishers receive a share of the prize money, with the highest percentage of the GPP going to the top spots.
Such a method of paying out winners resembles how poker tournaments often work, and you’ll see something similar in many DFS contests.
Cash games
DFS cash games don’t have graduated payouts. Rather, a percentage of top finishers each receive the same cash prize. For instance, in 50/50 contests the top 50% of the field cashes. Double-ups are similar, with winners receiving a prize worth twice the entry fee. A head-to-head contest is another example — a two-player “winner take all” game.
Note that cash games don’t have guaranteed prize pools and usually require a minimum number of players in order for the contest to run. For instance, if it is a 500-entry contest and there are only 400 entries, the game won’t run.
Showdown
Showdown DFS contests have become very popular lately. In regular DFS contests, you pick players from several different games — e.g., the NBA or MLB games on a given night or the NFL games in a particular week. For showdowns, you pick players from a single game. That said, you still aren’t allowed to stack your lineup with players from just one team. You have to pick players from both sides.
Thus if you enter a showdown for an Atlanta Braves-Cincinnati Reds game, you can pick several Braves, but you have to have at least one Red on your team. Showdowns can be GPPs or cash games.
Tiers
Tiers contests have become another popular DFS option. Rather than a salary cap, these contests divide selected players into different groups (e.g., “Tier 1,” “Tier 2” and so on). You then pick one player from each tier to form your team. These contests can take place as either GPPs or cash games.
Usually, each tier features a group of similarly valued players, with Tier 1 featuring all the top performers (who will probably score high), Tier 2 the next-level players on down to the lowest tier. Since you can only pick one player from each group, the variables are fewer than in regular DFS contests, although there are still many ways to build a team.
Sports available for DFS contests in Georgia
Georgia daily fantasy sports players have a variety of sports to choose from when deciding which contests to enter. Much like with traditional sports betting, you’ll find every major sport well represented in DFS, plus many other sports, as well:
- Australian rules football DFS
- Auto racing DFS (NASCAR)
- Baseball DFS (MLB)
- Basketball DFS (NBA, NCAA, EuroLeague)
- Football DFS (NFL, NCAA, CFL)
- Golf DFS (PGA, LPGA)
- Hockey DFS (NHL)
- Mixed martial arts DFS (UFC)
- Soccer DFS (EPL, MLS)
- Tennis DFS (ATP, WTA)
You’ll even sometimes see e-sports such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, DOTA 2 and League of Legends among your options.
History of daily fantasy sports in Georgia
The first daily fantasy sports sites went live in the late 2000s and early 2010s. From the start, the sites invited DFS players in Georgia to enter their contests. However, as DFS grew in popularity, the state’s primary regulator of gambling activity — the Georgia Lottery Corp. — raised questions about the legality of fantasy sports in the state.
In September 2015, the GLC’s chief counsel sent a letter to the CEOs of the two largest DFS sites, DraftKings and FanDuel, asking them to explain how they “are able to lawfully operate fantasy sports games in the state of Georgia.”
A couple of months later, then-Attorney General Sam Olens announced that his office was in the process of reviewing whether daily fantasy sports sites violated Georgia gambling law.
In March 2016, Olens’ office had concluded its investigation and sent a letter outlining its findings to the Georgia Lottery. Following a discussion of the law and its relevance to DFS, the letter concluded by delivering “informal advice that daily fantasy sports games are not authorized under Georgia law.”
That back-and-forth regarding the legality of DFS helped set the legislative wheels in motion in Georgia, at least temporarily.
A Senate bill to legalize fantasy sports introduced in early 2016, SB 352, never made it out of committee. Then, in early 2017, a handful of Georgia House members co-sponsored HB 118, the Registered Fantasy Contest Operators Act.
After the bill successfully passed through the House Ways and Means Committee, the full House voted in favor of HB 118 by a 126-32 margin. But the Senate chose not to take up the matter and instead voted to table the bill.
Since then, no other legislation regarding fantasy sports has come up. That said, there has been passing reference to DFS in the context of more recent discussions over whether to legalize sports betting in Georgia.