Just because you are attempting to win money does not make it a business.

Plenty of bad info out there. Run it just like a business. You don't need a DBA, however, it may help with the appearance of a business. 2 of 5 years to be profitable was last I knew of or it will be categorized as a hobby loss.

I raced motorcycles and wrote off my stuff for about 5 years. Got audited 3 of 5 years, guess which years, profit or loss. Was successful in all audits... even got more money back for one year!