50/50

There are several main disciplines of daily fantasy sports competitions, divided into two categories: cash games, and guaranteed prize pool (GPP). DFS contests typically utilize a salary cap format, in which players are allotted a maximum budget to spend on athletes for their team, represented as either play money or points. Each athlete has their own cost, with elite athletes having the highest costs.

In “Double-up” or “50/50” cash game competitions, players win a prize equal to double their entry fee if they finish with a score within the top 50% of all participants. Head-to-head competitions are similar, except that the player must win against another user of their choice. Guaranteed prize pool contests have higher stakes, using tiered payouts based on finishing in different percentiles or positions of the field of contestants. Further variations of double-up games, including Triple-up, Quadruple-up, and Quintuple-up, may also be offered. Leagues are smaller versions of GPP contests, with tiered payouts and a smaller number of contestants.

Daily fantasy games exist in a variety of major and minor sports, depending on service, including but not limited to American football (college and the NFL), association football (soccer), auto racing, baseball, basketball, cricket, golf, ice hockey, rugby, horse racing and sumo wrestling. Daily fantasy contests have also been held in professional-level e-sports events.