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ROI (Return on Investment)

What Is ROI in DFS?

Last updated November 13, 2026 by Ship It Nation

ROI, or return on investment, is your profit divided by the total entry fees you paid, shown as a percentage. Paying $1,000 in entries and winning $1,100 back is a 10% ROI.

Why It Matters

ROI tells you how well your process works, while total profit mostly tells you how much you played. Because the site takes a fee from every contest, the field as a whole has a negative ROI, so even a small positive number means you are beating most of it. Tournament ROI swings hard, so judge it over hundreds of entries, not one week.

Go Deeper

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Example

Say over a full NFL season you paid $2,000 in entry fees and won $2,300. Your profit is $300, and your ROI is 15%. If $250 of that came from one tournament score, your ROI without it would be 2.5%, which tells you more about your steady results than the headline number.

Pro tip

Track ROI separately for cash games and tournaments, and by sport. A blended number can hide a format that is quietly losing money.

Hear Us Break It Down

Hand-picked moments from our free live streams where our hosts break down this term.

Why a payout needs to be compared with the amount entered You put a $3,300 payout in context by comparing it with $45 spent. That comparison shows why the dollar amount alone does not tell you how large a return you earn on your entries. NFL · Monday, Oct 26 56:00 ▶ How ownership assumptions change a lineup's expected ROI You compare how a lineup's simulated ROI responds to different ownership assumptions. One popular player's estimate barely changes while another's falls, showing why increased popularity can matter more for some lineup choices than others. “It's basically saying Gibbs' role is not to make you different at all from the field. It's just to preserve the advantage that everyone else in your lineup gives you.” NFL · Saturday, Sep 12 42:42 ▶ Why a stack's best outcomes can drive lineup ROI You see how a stack's strongest outcomes can account for much of a lineup's simulated return. That leads you to prioritize the stack and question whether the game can realistically produce the upside the simulation assumes. “I want to prioritize the stack itself and then everything else kind of just flows from there.” NFL · Saturday, Sep 12 1:05:49 ▶
More mentions 9
SUN 11/8 · NFL “Of um the rois obviously when you don't have a ton of entrance right your roi numbers are going to be up there but the guys in first second the way up the board right now in the milli maker are all less than max entrance um that just shows...” 6:09 ▶ MON 10/19 · NFL “And if you keep playing like that and stack a couple of them, that's a game changer and just huge ROI, massive upside for the season.” 35:18 ▶ MON 9/28 · NFL “I knew eight percent ROI could get me this.” 1:11:55 ▶ MON 9/28 · NFL “He's saying like, it is huge ROI winning the mini max for a thousand bucks or $2,500 on some nights or whatever it ends up getting to $2,000.” 1:01:25 ▶ SAT 9/26 · NFL “If you're doing all those things well, now you get this construction ROI.” 42:01 ▶ WED 9/23 · MLB “Hey, heck, even losing two, three percent ROI all year, I would take in tournaments in most sports for sure.” 43:57 ▶ MON 9/21 · NFL “But the main thing is you can track your DFS profitability, ROI, and behavioral patterns.” 1:03:41 ▶ MON 9/14 · NFL “You'll see on there it's blurry, but it's got his ROI.” 56:01 ▶ SAT 9/12 · NFL “So you're losing a really good chunk of expected some ROI in a way that you don't with Gibbs because it doesn't really matter how popular he gets.” 43:11 ▶

Common Questions

What is a good ROI in DFS?

A steady positive ROI is already good. In cash games, winning players often sit in the single digits to low teens. Tournament ROI can run higher for strong players but swings far more, so a big number over a small sample means little.

How do you calculate ROI in daily fantasy?

Subtract your total entry fees from your total winnings, then divide by total entry fees. Winning $550 on $500 of entries is $50 profit, and $50 divided by $500 is a 10% ROI.

Why can my ROI be negative even when I cash often?

Because cash rate and ROI are not the same. In cash games the site keeps a fee, so you must cash well over half the time to break even. In tournaments, frequent min-cashes rarely cover the entries that miss.

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