Fantasy Sports Continue to Dodge Online Gambling Stigma
Perhaps almost as enraging to a reasonable and logical man as the nonsensical arguments against the legalization of online casinos is the free pass granted to fantasy sports gambling. While Internet casino wagering suffers an illogical and baseless horrible reputation, Fantasy sports skates free from the microscope of those same zealots parading against sports betting and Internet gambling.Fantasy sports have already been excluded from the purview of the UIGEA, with the ridiculous assertion that they constitute more skillful games than poker or table games. Now Maryland is examining a change in its laws, removing it from the short list of states that do not allow cash prizes for fantasy winners.
Like all gambling, the participants offer consideration, in the form of entry fees. A rake is taken by most organizations that score the leagues online, as any player at CBSsportsline or ESPN can attest. While free play is available, so are free slots and games at online casinos; same deal, no risk, no reward.
The winners receive portions of the pot, minus the operator's rake, just as in poker tournaments. Yet somehow this has become a great, upstanding national pastime, while online gambling is portrayed as vile and wicked.
Much of this dichotomy is the result of vested interest controlling media depictions. The National Football League and other sports make millions in licensing through fantasy sports, so that activity is saintly. Land casinos perceive no threat to their monopolies by fantasy sports.
But the reality is fantasy sports are as addictive or more so than online gambling. Just review the millions spent on supporting this growth industry, from online gurus, to waves of magazines and publications, advising participants of every facet of a player's performance. Sounds a lot like tout sheets.
Kids are far more easily swept up by fantasy sports, with the opportunity to "own" players whose names they've heard since birth, than the confusing and unfamiliar world of casino gambling.
As far as skill, how can it be skill to guess which player a team might turn to in its Byzantine combinations of plays, let alone figuring in injuries, unforeseen weather, and coaching subterfuge? And it's luck if a gambler correctly predicts the game's outcome? Give me a break.
Recent Comments
| Posted by: JT | When: 02/07/2009 08:11:26 AM EST |
| Nice article Tom. As the president of the Fantasy Sports Trade Association and 15 year industry veteran, I believe in looking at all sides. Instead of looking at the negative, why not embrace fantasy sports and its positives? The two important points you missed above - 1. there is NO rake (a company must define prizes up front), and 2. a season long game is predominantly skill (proven by the multiple repeat winners in our games - try to beat my guys in a 26-week baseball game). For #1, let's compare this to defining all prizes in a poker game and then charging an entry fee. In U.S. fantasy, if you define $100,000 in prizes and generate $10,000 in revenue, you still need to pay out the $100,000 in prizes. It's not a buy-in, with 80% paid out as prizes. If a fantasy league or contest is based on participation or includes a rake (in the U.S.), it is NOT legal. Now, let's discuss overseas. I believe a rake-based fantasy game would work very well for online casinos and sportsbooks - on legal gaming web sites. It's engaging, entertaining, fun, and there are modest rewards or larger rewards if you want to actually compete P2P. Fantasy can be an interesting and profitable adjunct ("Fantasy Games" in the main menu) to every legal sportsbook and casino in the world. The legalization of all gaming is an interesting debate. I would like to see other games, including poker, legalized in the U.S. (see the recent ruling from Pittsburgh calling it skill). But until it is, don't hate the fantasy industry... love it and celebrate it! | |
| Posted by: Tom Weston | When: 02/07/2009 01:21:35 PM EST |
| Thanks for reading, J.T. The point is not that fantasy is horrible and we hate it, but that fantasy is properly in the same category as all online gambling, yet gets a free ride. If fantasy sports were treated objectively and banned with other online gambling, perhaps the frenzy to get ridiculous laws repealed would have the public support deserved. The operating fee taken by a host site to score leagues is as much a rake as taking a fee to operate a poker table. Explain to me the skill involved in picking Cliff Lee this year over Aaron Harang. Or the skill a couple years ago to foresee defending Cy Young winner Bartolo Colon, fresh off a great spring at the World Cup, would win ONE game all year. These days all players have access to every bit of information, leaving the vagaries of luck and injury to determine league fantasy champions. And, as a veteran of fantasy sports who was playing Rotisserie Baseball in 1983, and has played every year since, let me say that obsession with fantasy occurs more frequently and with far greater intensity than anything I've observed in equal number of years at casino gambling. Again, we don't advocate against fantasy sports, just an even playing field unmarred by the shady manipulations of the NFL and other vested interests. | |
| Posted by: JT | When: 02/07/2009 09:35:47 PM EST |
| Fantasy is a variety of games. You're using your own own past as the guideline - which is one-dimensional and not a thorough analysis. If a company charges a fee to manage a league, that's a fee for software services. In many cases, prizes are not paid at all by the company that has the software. This is far from a rake. Like I said, everyone looks through their own personal microscope, which is natural. In the fantasy industry, there are a variety of contest styles, games, leagues, software, free competitions, etc. There are leagues of 10 to 14 with fees, contests of thousands with fees and prizes, contests of thousands with no fees, leagues of 10 to 14 with no fees, companies that market software and offer no prizes, companies that offer weekly games, monthly games, season long games, and more. You can't compare poker to the entire industry. If a company pays a prize, that prize needs to be defined far ahead of knowing the number of participants. The skill I noted in the first example is in a season long game, where consistency in selecting top pitchers for 26 weeks results in winning over and over again. Anyone can point out a single decision (like Lee over Harang) and try to suggest it's not total skill. But fantasy games aren't based on one decision. My point - forget about fantasy. Make points for your own industry and follow through with those points. We support your efforts. When the Colorado poker pro tried to file a lawsuit in New Jersey, the lawsuit was thrown out, mainly because it was a ridiculous ploy. The poker and gambling industries should fight their own fight. We have multiple games, multiple price points, multiple prize levels, multiple lengths of contests and leagues... trying to compare apples to apples doesn't work here. Best of luck, JT | |
