It’s interesting to note that while there are more Fantasy Premier League managers globally than there are people in New Zealand, the 2018/19 winner was actually a Wellington native.
Of course, this also highlights both the reach and popularity of fantasy sports gameplay, which is now commonplace across an array of disciplines including American football, basketball, golf, MMA, and eSports in addition to soccer.
Players in NZ can also access fantasy football and sports betting, which creates pool markets around particular leagues or tournaments and enable participants to monetize their knowledge and expertise.
In this post, we’ll take a look at the advantages of NFL and American football fantasy football betting in particular, while discussing how you can engage in this pastime successfully.
What is Fantasy Football Betting?
Whether applied to American football or soccer fantasy football betting is a relatively simple concept to understand.
In most cases, participating NZ gambling sites and operators will allow their customers to enter pool markets in NFL and AFL leagues, with the eventual winners claiming the total prize fund on offer.
Often, you can also enter into football betting tournaments over the course of the entire season or a single day, while weekly competitions may also be run to cover a specific NFL game week. You can subsequently build your team accordingly and depending on the fixtures and duration of the tournament in question, optimize your chances of success in the process.
Fantasy football betting also offers access to player tournaments, which are among the most popular markets for casual participants.
Through these tournaments, you can bet on the individual players who will score the greatest amount of points during a particular game week or tournament, with odds set according to the relative quality and form of your selections and points awarded for offensive plays including passing yards, receptions, and receiving touchdowns.
Key defensive factors include interceptions, fumbles recovered, and defensive touchdowns, and it’s important to factor in these considerations before building your fantasy bet slips.
What are the Advantages of Fantasy Football Betting?
Before we delve into these markets further and offer some fantasy football betting tips, we’re going to appraise the core advantages of wagering on relevant leagues and tournaments. These include:
- #1. A More Enjoyable Alternative to Traditional Sports Betting: In general terms, fantasy football is often seen as a more enjoyable alternative to traditional sports betting. It certainly introduces an additional layer of excitement and engagement for participants, while allowing you far greater flexibility in terms of how you wager your hard-earned cash.
- #2. Use Your Knowledge More Effectively: On a similar note, fantasy sports betting creates a vehicle through which you can leverage your in-depth knowledge of football, teams, and their competing players. This affords you a competitive edge when compared to traditional sports betting, which relies more on luck than judgment in many instances.
- #3. You Can Win Prizes Without Depositing Money: It’s interesting to note that when wagering with some NZ operators, you can win prizes and compete without depositing any real money. It’s also possible to win large cash prizes through relatively small stake pool bets, creating potentially significant returns that are more accessible to casual players.
How to Capitalise on Fantasy Football Betting
Before we go, we thought we’d offer some expert fantasy football betting tips to help you make the most of your bankroll and NFL knowledge. These include:
#1. Choose the Right Tournaments for You
As we’ve already touched on, there are numerous fantasy football betting tournaments and markets associated with the NFL and American football.
So, it’s important that you target the tournaments that are right for you. For example, those who regularly study or watch college football may want to enter ‘Dynasty Leagues’, where you retain entire squads over the course of more than one season and can build for the future with promising young players.
Conversely, casual bettors may benefit from daily fantasy leagues, which see you dip in and out of the action by selecting the best possible team for individual game weeks. This can deliver smaller but incremental gains and is ideal for those of you with really busy lifestyles.
#2. Check Out the FF Rankings and Expert Resources
It’s also important to remain informed when engaging in fantasy football betting, regardless of which type of league or tournament you target.
In this respect, independent resources such as the ESPN and Yahoo fantasy football sites are highly recommended, as they provide detailed analytics and relevant rankings on a daily and weekly basis.
This enables you to access information pertaining to the top fantasy football players for each game week, along with team form, trading windows, and expert picks or trade calculators.
#3. Understand the Scoring System
We touched on the scoring system earlier, and there are multiple offensive and defensive plays that can see you earn points for your team or individual players.
Understanding this scoring system is key, as this will directly inform your teams’ selections and enable you to maximize your potential points haul within the relevant timeframe.
For example, it’s well known that top running backs and wide receivers earn the most points on average during a typical FF season. So, prioritize such picks ahead of quarterbacks and other positions at the beginning of a fantasy football draft, as this will deliver the best and most consistent results over time.
