Remarkable fantasy sports performance

The daily fantasy sports sector is giving out prizes that would be the envy of many big-money online poker sites these days – in the latest competition finalists partied it up in Las Vegas as two of them earned seven-figure prizes.

A press release from the major supplier FanDuel reports that Scott Hanson won the company’s flagship event this week, the World Fantasy Football Championship, besting 99 other competitors from around the country to take home the $2 million first prize.

Hanson was flown home on a private jet amid the razzmatazz usually associated with major entertainment events in Las Vegas, with the company shelling out $7 million in the one-day tournament to the 100 finalists.

Eric Snead of Virginia won $1 million for coming in second place, while John Lovelace of Atlanta, GA won $500,000 for coming in third.

“We want to congratulate Scott Hanson for winning the FanDuel Fantasy Football Championship on a $2 qualifying league,” said Nigel Eccles, FanDuel CEO and co-founder. “Scott is a new player that’s only deposited $35 on FanDuel, yet has managed to turn that into more than two million dollars in one NFL season.”

To compete in the FanDuel Fantasy Football Championship, players won one of 72 qualifying leagues held from Week 1 to Week 13 of the NFL season. Entry fees for the qualifying leagues ranged from $2 to $1,065, with league sizes capped from 108 to 59,482 players based on the entry fees.

Each qualifying league winner won an all-expense trip to Las Vegas for the Championship, which took place at The Cosmopolitan Hotel and Casino.