The team at TheScore.com thinks that they’ve found the solution to the daily fantasy sports industry’s quagmire of legal problems in the form of QuickDraft, a free-to-play DFS app.
QuickDraft uses a novel, though not original plan for doing an end run around the United States’ ban on sports betting by keeping the element of chance, but removing the element of risk. They achieve this goal by offering everything any other DFS site offers, only they don’t charge entry fees.
Players compete for prize pools of between $100 and $1000 (USD). The site itself makes money, or will make money, from advertising. (As of this writing QuickDraft does not
According to Canadian attorney Michael Lipting, who spoke on the subject to the Canadian Globe and Mail, the concept is legally sound so long as players don’t lose anything:
As soon as you have risk consideration and prize, you are into a situation where there is gambling. If you offer a free site and people play for points and whoever has the most points gets a prize or cash, that is okay.
QuickDraft is a relatively recent convert to the concept of free-to-play and had, originally, planned a revenue model similar to DraftKings and Fan Duel. But in the wake of a potential regulatory avalanche heading their way in the US, the company shifted plans.
The relatively low prize pools could also serve to solve one of the DFS industry’s other big problems, sharks. Company officials are quick to point out that QuickDraft is not the place to go to win millions of dollars.
Or, as company COO Benjie Levy says, “We don’t do millionaire makers.”