Fantasy sports data analysis for game structure development
In an aspect, fantasy sports data is analyzed to generate and/or manage the delivery of and user experience of fantasy sports games and contests, including timing and payout structure(s) for short-term fantasy contests, such as daily, weekly, etc. fantasy sports contests, that motivate and appeal to contestants and is/are reasonably structured and concisely represented. In yet another aspect, a daily fantasy contest system is provided to automatically adjust to user demand without overshooting profitable levels and offer a variety of different contests, as well as offer contests with guaranteed and non-guaranteed payouts.
1. A method comprising:
instantiating, by a computing device, an initial number of software instances of an online contest during a first portion of a contest generation period associated with the contest;
causing, by the computing device, the initial number of software instances of the online contest to be made available to a website of a provider of an online contest;
monitoring, by the computing device, in real-time, behavior of users on the website and determining a number of users entering the provider's online contest based on the monitoring;
estimating, by the computing device, a number of potential contest participants likely to enter the contest during a second portion of the contest generation period using the determined number of users;
instantiating, by the computing device, an additional number of software instances of the online contest using the estimated number of potential contest participants likely to enter the contest during the second portion of the contest generation period; and
causing, by the computing device, the additional number of software instances of the online contest to be made available to the website of the provider of the online contest.
2. The method of claim 1 , obtaining further comprising:
receiving, by the computing device, the initial number of software instances of the contest from the provider of the online contest.
3. The method of claim 1 , obtaining further comprising:
making, by the computing device, a determination that a contest instance has reached a capacity number of participants.
4. The method of claim 1 , estimating further comprising:
ensuring, by the computing device, that the additional number of software instances is at least a maintenance number of contest instances.
5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
monitoring, by the computing device, participant activity in connection with the initial number of software instances of the contest; and
adjusting, by the computing device, the maintenance number of contest instances used in instantiating the additional number of software instances in the second portion of the contest generation period.
6. The method of claim 1 , each instance of the additional number of software instances has a number of entry slots set in accordance with an entry slot capacity.
7. The method of claim 6 , each of the initial number of software instances of the contest has a number of entry slots set in accordance with the entry slot capacity.
8. The method of claim 1 , the additional number of software instances is set to zero if a start time of the contest is within a predetermined amount of time.
9. The method of claim 8 , the predetermined amount of time falls within a third portion of the contest generation period.
10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
prohibiting instantiation of any software instances of the contest for a third portion of the contest generation period.
11. The method of claim 1 , the estimating further comprising:
using, by the computing device, a number of contest participants joining during the second portion of the contest generation period of at least one other online contest in determining the estimated number of potential contest participants likely to enter the contest during the second portion of the contest generation period.
12. The method of claim 1 , the estimating further comprising:
using, by the computing device, a number of openings remaining in the initial number of software instances in estimating the number of potential contest participants likely to enter the contest during the second portion of the contest generation period.
13. The method of claim 12 , the using further comprising using the number of openings remaining in the initial number of software instances and an initial estimate of a number of contest participants in estimating the number of potential contest participants likely to enter the contest during the second portion of the contest generation period.
14. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium tangibly encoded with computer-executable instructions that when executed by a processor associated with a computing device perform a method comprising:
instantiating an initial number of software instances of an online contest during a first portion of a contest generation period associated with the contest;
causing the initial number of software instances of the online contest to be made available to a website of a provider of an online contest;
monitoring, in real-time, behavior of users on the website and determining a number of users entering the provider's online contest based on the monitoring;
estimating a number of potential contest participants likely to enter the contest during a second portion of the contest generation period using the determined number of users;
instantiating an additional number of software instances of the online contest for the website using the estimated number of potential contest participants likely to enter the contest during the second portion of the contest generation period; and
causing the additional number of software instances of the online contest to be made available to the website of the provider of the online contest.
15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14 , obtaining further comprising:
receiving the initial number of software instances of the contest from the provider of the online contest.
16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14 , obtaining further comprising:
making a determination that a contest instance has reached a capacity number of participants.
17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14 , estimating further comprising:
ensuring that the additional number of software instances is at least a maintenance number of contest instances.
18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , further comprising:
monitoring participant activity in connection with the initial number of software instances of the contest; and
adjusting the maintenance number of contest instances used in instantiating the additional number of software instances in the second portion of the contest generation period.
19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14 , further comprising:
prohibiting instantiation of any software instances of the contest for a third portion of the contest generation period.
20. A computing device comprising:
a processor; and
a non-transitory storage medium for tangibly storing thereon program logic for execution by the processor, the program logic comprising:
instantiating logic executed by the processor for instantiating an initial number of software instances of an online contest during a first portion of a contest generation period associated with the contest;
causing logic executed by the processor for causing the initial number of software instances of the online contest to be made available to a provider of an online contest;
monitoring logic executed by the processor for monitoring, in real-time, behavior of users on the website and determining a number of users entering the provider's online contest based on the monitoring;
estimating logic executed by the processor for estimating a number of potential contest participants likely to enter the contest during a second portion of the contest generation period using the determined number of users;
instantiating logic executed by the processor for instantiating an additional number of software instances of the online contest using the estimated number of potential contest participants likely to enter the contest during the second portion of the contest generation period; and
causing the additional number of software instances of the online contest to be made available to the provider of the online contest.