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"Fantasy sports are great. They let you compete with friends, offer an excuse to track stats obsessively and lend an extra bit of intrigue to the games on TV.\nBut the $4 billion fantasy sports industry can also be a drag. Why? Simply put, they can drag on for-ev-er. Updating a roster and shuffling starters for a 162-game baseball season, for example, can just become more hassle than it's worth after a few months. \nFanDuel aims to strike a happy medium. The startup lets fans access the benefits of fantasy sports without the longterm commitment. Rosters are compiled, but games last just one day. In is the excitement, out is the dragging monotony. \nThat new twist on a tried-and-true staple of sports fandom made FanDuel the winner in the sports category of Mashable's Innovation Index \u2014 a new year-end celebration of digital and social innovations that have helped redefine the world we live in. \n\nFanDuel was selected from a field of five nominees put together by Jon Dube, a longtime digital sports heavyweight and current general manager of CBS Fantasy Sports. The other nominees were the Nike Hyperdunk basketball shoe, Bloomberg Sports analytics technology, Flex-Foot Cheetah running prosthetic and Condition One video company.\nFanDuel isn't alone in the daily fantasy sports game, however. Other startups in the space include DraftDay and StarStreet, and together they represent a still-emerging space that is likely only to grow in popularity as more fans go online and look for alternatives to traditional fantasy platforms. Adding to the appeal of daily fantasy sports is that gambling actual money on them is legal under the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act of 2006. In 2012, FanDuel paid out $50 million to players.\nTime will tell how many companies the daily fantasy sports realm has room for longterm, but FanDuel appears as likely as any to be able to make a lasting mark for a plenty of time to come. \nDo daily fantasy sports appeal to you, or do you prefer the old-school season-long approach? Let us know what you think in the comments. \nImage courtesy Flickr, Kevin Jones\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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