How Draftstars Sets Maximum Entries
We have had an increasing number of questions from players asking how Draftstars sets its limit on how many entries an individual player is able to have into a single contest (referred to as maximum entries).
Responding to this kind of request is not complete without giving a broad explanation of all of the relevant elements that were considered when we set the max entries number, so we’ve put this article together to explain clearly our current policy.
Big Prize Pools
One of the main attractions of our customers to Draftstars has been the big prize pools (especially on AFL), a theme that has come out in surveys and other research Draftstars has conducted. The best way to get large prize pools is to allow a large number of entries from a single customer. If 5 players have 20 entries each into a $15 contest, that’s $1500 they add to the prize pool. If they were allowed only one entry each, that amount would be just $75. This means that instead of running contests with say $5,000 in prizes Draftstars can run a contest for $20,000. With the higher prize pools, more customers play, which in turn means the prize pool increases further.
It’s therefore very important, particularly in the early days of Draftstars (we only launched in March 2016) that we allow players multiple entries into our biggest feature contests, to ensure we have prize pools at an attractive level to both new and existing customers.
Mathematical Chances
All other elements being equal, if 100 individual players had 1 team each or 1 player has 100 teams there is no difference to the mathematical chances of any individual team either from this group or from other entries winning the contest – they are exactly the same in both scenarios.
On the opening Day of the AFL (Thursday 23rd) the feature NRL, AFL and NBA contests that day were all won by a player who had a single entry into the contest, which is not unusual, so not only is it possible to win with just 1 entry, but it happens pretty regularly.
Skilled Players
Selecting a Draftstars team involves a level of skill and some have a slight advantage over others in this regard with respect to how much time they spend analysing information, teams and salaries relative to others. Allowing the more skilled players to submit multiple teams does reduce the chances of a less skilled (or less informed) player winning that contest.
Draftstars wants to be a broadly appealing game, and one that is fun for everyone with a legitimate chance of winning, whether a player is time poor and wants to enter quickly, or more “skilled” and devoting more time to their team(s). While we don’t want to take away the skill element from game, we understand the importance of levelling the playing field.
Levelling the Playing Field
The following methods are used to make the game appealing to all and ensuring a chance for everyone to win:
- Tips and Previews (The Huddle). The Draftstars Blog “The Huddle” provides regular previews on who you may wish to pick (or avoid) for upcoming contests. Links to the articles are also included in emails to players. The articles must be good, because some of our regulars have complained they give too much information away!
- Single Entry Contests. Many of our feature contests have an equivalent single entry contest where players are only allowed to have 1 entry. While the prize pools for these games are generally a lot lower, they are still an attractive option for those who don’t want to play against multiple entrants in headline or feature contests.
- Double Up and Low Target Contests. These contests are a great way to learn the game and have a high change of winning (at least 45% of players in double ups). They tend to attract fewer multiple entrants.
- Beginner Contests. Most of our feature contests have an equivalent beginners only contest (played less than 25 paid games for that sport). This ensures that those learning the game can play against others like them while they start to understand how it works. Having said that, some of our biggest winners of feature contests have been playing only their first or second game, so using your beginners luck on a big feature isn’t a bad idea either.
- Range of Games. Draftstars now offers small and large turbo games, target, and salary contests over single and multiple days. It offers 2 man, 6 man, larger games, double, triple and quad-ups, all in addition to the single entry contests. Players who don’t wish to play in contests with multiple entrants can select one of the game types where this isn’t allowed or isn’t common. We recently published a Guide to the supporting games on Draftstars.
Looks not what they seem
Players that may enter multiple times into Draftstars contests aren’t necessarily those that have won the most, and like every player they go through good and bad periods. Occasionally a single player may have say 3 of the top 5 in a feature contest, which may look like they are winning, but they may be entering 50 entries over a week which means they may have actually made a loss when net winnings are calculated over a weekly period. Like other forms of wagering, some players just like to invest more than others and so the number of entries made is not always an indication of their likelihood to win.
How much is too much
When Draftstars launched in 2016 we set our maximum number of entries conservatively. This has slowly increased as we’ve wanted to allow the price pools to increase.
In the US where laws specifically for Daily Fantasy Sports operations have been implemented, those laws often state a cap expressed as a percentage of the total number of participants in a contest, the standard limit being capped at 3% of entries (e.g. New York and Massachusetts) and an absolute limit of 150 entries.
Consistent with this standard, Draftstars’ current position is that for AFL and NRL feature contests with 500 or more total spots, we restrict the total entries a player can have to 3.0% of the total available entries, with a maximum of 50 entries (3 or fewer matches) and 75 entries (4 or more matches). For contests with a smaller number of players the maximum number of entries maxes up a larger percentage than 3%. NBA rules will be reset at the start of the 2017-18 season, but currently allow 25 entries maximum.
Given the reduction in possible combinations in a single match contest as opposed to a contest over multiple matches, the maximum entries for single match contests is set to 25. Given the increased number of combinations with more matches, the maximum is set differently for 3 match contests (50) as opposed to 5 match contests (75). In order to encourage a welcoming environment for new and low stakes players, contests with entry fees under $10 are restricted to 5 entries per player.
We’ll continue to monitor to see whether there is a skew in the distribution of winnings between single and multiple entrants, but based on current trends we are confident our clarified policy will provide a level of comfort for players of all levels to enjoy playing our contests.
Maximum Entries per Customer Summary
| Under $10 | $10 or more | |
|---|---|---|
| Single Match | 10 Entries | 25 Entries |
| Multi Match (2 or 3 matches) | 10 Entries | 100 Entries |
| Multi Match (4 or more matches) | 10 Entries | 150 Entries |