Free Sports Betting Contests Pick'em Games, Props + More
For sports betting fans, there’s nothing better than an opportunity to win big with zero buy-in. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of the best sports betting contests that are free to play online. From March Madness brackets to pick’em pools, these contests are beloved by casual and diehard fans alike.
Covering multiple sports and leagues, our top online betting contests give you an opportunity to test your knowledge, making winning picks, and compete for prizes. Find your new favorite pick’em, bracket challenge, and try to Beat the Geek in our free NFL contest.
Can You Beat the Geek?
Register for free to challenge the Geek, an AI sports picks expert with a passion for data. By picking the correct point spread of 2024–25 NFL match-ups, you’ll earn points and battle your way up the leaderboard.
If you end the regular season with more winning picks than the Geek, you’ll be entered into a grand prize draw for an NFL trip for two, including travel and accommodation. 🏆🏈🧑🤝🧑
Fifty-four (54) in-season prizes are up for grabs as well! 👀
Predict NHL Goal Scorers and Win Prizes!
Another free contest, our NHL Goal Scorer Bingo asks hockey fans to predict six different goalscorers during any night there are 6+ regular season NHL matches ongoing.
With multiple busy nights over the course of the hockey season, you can try your hand at guessing who’s going to light the lamp many times! Give it a (slap)shot and see how well you know professional hockey.
Bet on Marquee NCAAF Matchups for Free
For the biggest matches of the college season, we’ve prepared a free College Football Marquee Matchup contest. Simply log in and select betting lines and player props for our selected Marquee Matchup.
You’ll be able to wager our imaginary funds for free, and the biggest winner walks away with cash prizes! Try your hand at college football, even if it’s out of your comfort zone — there’s nothing to lose.
Pick Tonight’s NBA Double-Double Players
Rounding out our contest offerings, we’ve created a double-double NBA bingo that asks fans to predict who’s going to end the night with a double-double statline (10+ stats in 2 categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks).
It’s absolutely free to enter and choose winning players, and you can win prizes for correct predictions. Next time there’s a stellar line of NBA games, give this contest from The Sports Geek a shot.
Popular Online Sports Contests
If you’re unfamiliar with sports betting contest offerings, don’t sweat it. There’s plenty of ways to get involved, no matter your skill level. Here’s a quick list of the most popular options online.
Pick'em Contests
Pick’em contests have their players picking the winner of head-to-head matchups during the NFL or college football season. Every winning pick earns a point.
The goal is to accumulate the most points by the end of the season or contest period, which means you have to make the most winning picks.
These contests often feature weekly, monthly, or season-long prizes. Beat the Geek is one example of a free NFL pick’em, which you can play now (and maybe even win an NFL trip for two).
Survivor Pools
Survivor pools typically run the length of a full season. Each week, players pick one team with the best chance of winning their matchup. If that team wins, the player will advance to the next round of the pool. If their team loses, the player is eliminated.
The catch is that if your team wins, you can’t select them again from the pool for the rest of the contest. Survivor pools require players to make strategic choices to ensure there are still strong teams left to pick late in the season — and there can only be one winner.
NFL survivor pools are the most common type of this pick’em contests, thanks to their once-a-week matchup schedule.
Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS)
DFS is a faster-paced version of traditional fantasy sports, usually requiring you to draft a team for just a single day. This contrasts with typical fantasy leagues, where players usually draft for a whole season’s worth of competition.
DFS players earn points based on the real in-game performance of the athletes they draft. There is also a salary cap while drafting, offering layers of depth and strategy to selecting the best possible team. At the end of the contest period, the highest-scoring players’ teams win cash prizes, typically split among the top-performing teams.
Bracket Contests
Bracket contests ask their players to predict the outcome of each game in a tournament, typically from the opening round-robin games right to the final game. Players fill out their brackets before the tournament begins by selecting the team they think will win each scheduled game, earning points if they are correct.
Points for correct predictions will usually increase after each round, which means accurate, long-term predictions will score big. The contestant with the most points at the end of the tournament wins.
Brackets are popular for large-scale tournaments, such as the NCAA’s March Madness Bracket Challenge.
Props Sheets
Prop sheets are used to predict in-game events — like the number of touchdowns a player will score or which team will win a coin toss. Participants make picks before a game starts and earn points for correct predictions. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins.
Prop Sheets are popular for adding extra excitement to big games, especially the Super Bowl.
Squares
Squares are a contest in which players buy specific cells (squares!) in a grid, where each cell corresponds to possible last digits for each team in the Home–Away score. Players attempt to guess the correct score at the end of each quarter, half, or period. If you buy a square and the last digits match the last digits of both teams’ score, you win a prize or share of a cash pool.
A popular version of squares is Super Bowl Squares, where a player buys squares in a 10 × 10 grid labelled 0–9.
Our Favorite Sports Betting Contests Right Now
If you’re looking to jump into the action, consider playing some of the best sports betting contests available. We’ve compiled a short list of our favorite contests, offering a mix of free and buy-in options depending on your preference.
Beat the Geek
If you’re not already pitting yourself against The Geek, never fear! There’s plenty of time left in the NFL season to join The Sports Geek’s ATS pick’em contest. Free to enter, and easy to play, we’re offering grand prizes that include a trip for two to an NFL game next season.
Sign up for Beat the Geek and don’t be afraid to browse our betting resources to supplement your picks with some research. Make sure to check the leaderboard weekly and see how you stacked up against our AI sports betting machine.
BetUS Survivor Pool
BetUS is currently running a series of NFL survivor pools, all with different buy-in amounts ranging from $10 to $500. It’s a winner take all format, so the payday for the winner of every pool is substantial.
If you think you’ve got the chops to predict a perfect NFL season, visit our friends at BetUS and sign up for a BetUS account today. From there, you can find contest offerings under the “More” tab at the top of their page.
BetOnline’s NFL MegaContest
While BetOnline offers survivor pool options as well, the most eye-catching opportunity for sports bettors is their $200,000 NFL MegaContest. This is a pick’em handicapping contest where you’ll choose five against the spread picks for every week of the NFL season.
BetOnline’s contest options go far beyond pick’ems and survivor pools, too. They offer free contests for score predictions, props, and more. To explore the full list, sign up with BetOnline and explore their “Contests” tab.
Tips for Winning Your Sports Betting Contests
Trusting your gut is a good place to start when entering a contest, but with the wealth of info at your disposal, consider doing a bit of research before jumping in. Here are a few ways to get started.
Take Advantage of Betting Lines for Pick'em Contests
Lines change all the time before the start of a matchup, so why not do a little research before submitting your weekly picks? You could find some juicy tidbits, like a team moving back two or three points based on public money movement. Sportsbooks are always trying to be as accurate as possible, which means their research can also be your research, in a sense. Supplement yourself with key information like points spread strategies, but don’t forget about other betting lines when placing your selections.
Use Player Props for DFS Contests
Sportsbooks are in the business of making money, so they’ll always try to find the most accurate lines for player props. Considering these lines while creating your DFS team can pay dividends if you take the time to compare their salary value versus expected performance. If there’s a low-value player that the books think will have a decent game, that’s an excellent start to crafting the perfect DFS roster.
Hedge Your Survivor Pool Bets
No one ever said you have to do just one survivor pool! Hedge your bets by entering a few different contests, selecting different teams at pivotal points in the season. Maybe you’d like to take a massive favorite like the Kansas City Chiefs early in the season as opposed to later on. Or, perhaps you’re so confident in your picks that you just want to make a few tweaks and hope for multiple payouts. Either way, using multiple NFL survivor pools to hedge your bets could be a smart play.
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