How do DraftKings Pools Work?

DraftKings' pools are fairly simple and easy to understand. You select a pool in which to participate and are then given a series of picks to make. If your picks hit, you'll be entitled to a share of a prize pool, and if not you'll be left with nothing for your entry.

DraftKings Pools can be either paid or free. DK has made itself stand out by offering free-to-play pools every single day. This means that DraftKings Sportsbook users are eligible to win cash prizes without actually having to wager their own money. Of course, there are also benefits to the paid pools, that we'll get into as well.

Additionally, users have the ability to join established pools, or create their very own private pools and compete directly against their friends for money or bragging rights.

The most easily accessible pools on DraftKings are, of course, the free variety. There are several of these available to all DraftKings users nationwide, which means that you'll be able to take advantage of free pools even if you're not in a state where online betting is legal since you won't be actually gambling.

Free pools have the obvious benefit of being (wait for it) free. It's always nice to win with no money down, but then again, there are also drawbacks.

Free pools limit users to one entry. That makes sense, since you don't have any skin in the game why would you be able to double down? The prize structure of free pools is also typically less generous than paid pools. Since paid pools' pots are determined by how much money participants put in, this is logical, but a drawback, nonetheless.

DraftKings offers users the following pools to participate in:

• Pick’Ems - The most common and straightforward kind of pool. You have to pick the results of some selected games and get rewarded for guessing outcomes correctly. The DraftKings NFL Pick'Em Pool, for example, allows users to win prizes for making free NFL predictions.
• Squares - Often offered for the Super Bowl, squares allow you to pay for blocks within a square that corresponds with what scores are possible in the game. This is a bit more random, but there is some skill involved with deciding what squares to purchase
• Brackets - Definitely most commonly associated with March Madness, brackets give you a tournament and allow you to predict the outcomes of each game within a said tournament. Again, you're most likely to see this offered around the NCAA tournament, but you can also play with them for NFL playoffs and soccer Cup tournaments
• Survivors - My personal favorite, survivor tournaments force the user to pick the winner of one NFL game per week. If you pick loses you're out and you cannot pick the same team twice in a season.
  

If you and your friends or co-workers want to get some skin in the game, DraftKings Private Pools are a great option. DraftKings allows users the ability to create their own pools from scratch with custom settings and invite their friends to get in on the action.

In the example above, we've created a simple Pick 'Em pool with a $25 entry fee. We've set the prize pot to be split between the top 3 participants in the pool. So, a 10 person pool would have $250 in winnings, being split between the 3 entrants who were most correct. You can customize any of these settings and have your choice of a number of sports.

This feature takes social sports betting to the next level and can be a nice change of pace from your office fantasy league or survivor pool.

It should be noted that you can only create pools for money in states where DraftKings Sportsbook is active. In other states, you can still create pools, but you cannot require an online entrance fee.