Behavioral Markers of Risky Daily Fantasy Sports Play

Abstract

To understand the natural groups of daily fantasy sports (DFS) players and their associated problematic play, we obtained DFS participation records for 11,130 DFS players from a leading provider. A cluster analysis suggested four player clusters. Cluster 4 included a single highly successful player (i.e., an outlier). Players in Cluster 1 had shorter playing durations than players in Clusters 2 and 3 and picked riskier contests than players in Cluster 3. Players in Cluster 2 picked riskier contests than players in Cluster 3 and had longer playing durations than players in Cluster 1. Players in Cluster 3 experienced greater financial DFS success than others. This suggests that measures of DFS involvement can identify natural DFS player groups with distinct problematic play experiences.