A day in the life of a daily fantasy sports pro who makes hundreds of thousands of dollars
So we decided to shadow a professional daily fantasy player for a day to figure out what DFS is all about.
Jonathan Bales lives in Philadelphia and makes a living writing about daily fantasy sports, running the analytics platform Fantasy Labs, and betting about five figures every week on football and baseball.
Thanks to his obsessive stats knowledge, he's never deposited any money in his DraftKings account since his initial $50 about three years ago - all while grossing millions and profiting in the hundreds of thousands.
Bales, who played football in his youth, started tracking sports analytics and data in college "just for fun," he said. He'd run the numbers and analyze teams' on-field decisions, fourth-down decisions, when they'd punt, and more.
He started a blog, got hired as a consultant for an NFL team, and self-published a few books. He also creates some content for DraftKings. Since 2013, he's been able to write and play DFS full-time.
"It's a game that, if you're smart and do a lot of research and you're dedicated to it, you can make money for sure," Bales told Tech Insider. "It's very similar to poker. But it's a game of skill. The best players win again and again over the long run."
On DraftKings, fantasy players receive a fake budget of $50,000 every week to draft their team. Each football player is assigned a dollar value - the most valuable one right now is Tom Brady at $8,500 - and fantasy players must "buy" a quarterback, running back, and so on while coming in under budget. The key is to select not only the best players, but also the ones who might do well and aren't showing up on every other fantasy player's lineup. Players can enter tournaments or go head-to-head against other fantasy players. They can play without wagering any money, or they can bet on each lineup tournament or contest they enter.
People like Bales who have figured out how to do that effectively can make millions over the course of a season. The key, Bales says, is to think creatively. The best DFS players know to use injury reports that are released by the NFL on Thursday to predict who will be fit to play. They analyze players' histories, coaches' tendencies and preferences, and even the weather forecasts for game day when building their lineups.
Now, interest in daily fantasy is boiling over thanks to recent allegations that an employee of a DFS site leaked important information in the form of fantasy players' lineups. That employee was cleared of wrongdoing following an investigation, but daily fantasy sports organizations are reportedly being investigated by the FBI.
Bales welcomes this new attention to the pasttime, saying federal regulation would be welcome as long as DFS could be kept legal in every state. It's already been banned in Nevada.
Keep scrolling to see what it's like to be a professional DFS player.