Approximately 33.5 million people play a fantasy sport of some kind in the U.S. With the football season coming to a close and the baseball season coming to a start, the many fantasy sport websites such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports and ESPN are receiving more traffic than ever. Not to mention anyone who participates and is successful has the chance to earn a pretty penny

A fantasy sport is a game in which a player builds a team of real athletes and gains points if they do well in their real games. In order to play, one not only has to build a team of players based on statistics of how players typically perform in their games but they also have to pay a fee for it. The game is hosted and regulated by a website which collects the money and distributes it to the winners. The fantasy sport industry makes more than $1.7 billion dollars in league fees for the U.S. alone and more than $1.9 billion dollars in transaction fees, website hosting fees, website prize fees, challenge games and information material. For a season game, it would cost on average $79 per person and depending what website the participate plays on, how much the participant bets, and what sport one playing in the participant can make hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“I played in a public league that cost $20 to join,” Randall High School math teacher Jana Fincke said. “I won that league and I received $100.”

Choosing which website to go through depends on how much the participant is willing to spend and how much one wants in return. There are also websites that are just for less expensive weekly games, like investorball.com or strictly more expensive league long games, like fantasy.premierleague.com.

“Most of my fantasy leagues have been through Yahoo sports,” Fincke said. “I also played through CBSSPORTS.com one year.”

Although some websites offer a higher payout, they cost a lot more, one of which is Premier Fantasy Soccer. Some websites are free and offer no prize with the exception of pride and bragging rights, like ESPN.

“I usually make the playoffs,” Fincke said. “I won my overall league once. This past year was my least successful.”