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football1If you’re a football fan, chances are you’ll see commercials for ‘daily fantasy sports,’ or DFS during this Sunday’s games. Two popular DFS businesses, DraftKings, Inc. and FanDuel, advertised heavily last weekend, prompting inquiries to Better Business Bureau of Upstate New York. BBB says fans who want to play DFS should check the fine print on any website before signing up or risk losses they didn’t expect.

The concept seems simple enough: You pick a team of players that you think will do well that day and submit your lineup to the website. Players are awarded points based on performance. Some commercials claim that people are winning thousands of dollars playing with these websites, but recent news articles show some players end up leaving empty handed.

People are checking with BBB first, and some are filing complaints against DraftKings, Inc. and FanDuel. Several of the complaints are about advertising issues, people not receiving their winnings or technical problems on the websites.   

BBB offers the following advice before signing up for any website or service:

Check the refund policy.  Read the policy to see if the business allows a full refund if the customer is not happy with the service.

Check the website’s security. A URL, which stands for Uniform Resource Locator, is a great resource tool that reveals the website’s online address. You will want to make sure that it contains the “s” in the URL which indicates it is a secure and encrypted site https://.

Always use a credit card. If you decide to participate in BBB suggests that you pay with a credit card; do not use a debit card. Using a credit card gives you the option of disputing the charges with your credit card company should there be a problem with your purchase.

For real time scam information, check out BBB’s Scam Tracker.

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