The game of fantasy sports has changed due to the rise of in popularity of daily fantasy sports (DFS). Daily fantasy sports is an accelerated version of traditional fantasy sports were the contest last a week or a single day as opposed to the traditional fantasy sports that are played across an entire season. This raises the question is this gambling?
Gambling is defined as “to play a game in which you can win or lose money or possessions: to bet money or other valuable things.” This definition describes what daily fantasy sports are at its core.
As soon as a player signs up for an account on one of these DFS sites the player is required to deposit money. From there the player is given a list of sports in which they what to play in. Once chosen, the player must than choose from a long list of different leagues each with an entry fee. These entry fees can vary from a dollar up to a couple thousand and the player can enter as many games as they want.
For many people DFS was just a onetime thing to try it out for themselves.
“I have played the low entry games. I just won my money back,” said Michael Beidleman a Hood student. “But I lost interest because I felt like you had to enter the leagues with larger entry fees to get any type of profit and I didn’t want to lose my money.”
For others, they just want to try to make a quick buck.
“I play for the off chance I win a lot of money. I started this season by putting $25 in my account and I am still playing with that money,” another Hood student, Todd Welch, said. “I will stop playing when I run out of money, but if I keep going even I see no reason to stop playing.”
One can argue that DFS is skilled based with evidence if the player has enough information, time, and experience. The same can be said about playing poker.
The More You Know
In 2006 the unlawful internet gambling enforcement act was established to regulate the money from 
banks that act as the middleman between Internet gambling consumers and Internet casinos. The passing of act caused three of the leading gambling sites to shut down immediately. But the other companies held out and still remain in business.
In 2012 the governor of Maryland signed a bill that exempts certain online fantasy sports games from the state’s gambling bans. This bill is similar to the 2006 unlawful Internet gambling enforcement act. The fantasy sports games must have an outcome that shows knowledge of the people playing by gathering statistics of athletes competing in real-world sporting events.
Also, all fantasy sports league prizes need to be general knowledge among the people playing at the start of the contest and the prizes can’t be influenced by the amount of fees paid by, or the number, people playing.
Finally, all outcomes are only based of the statistical performances of the athletes playing in their real-world sporting events. None of the outcomes can be based on the score, point-spread, any performance of a single team, or a single performance of a single athlete in a single sporting event.
Peter Franchot the comptroller of Maryland wants to go back and see if they have to revise the bill of 2012. The spokesman said the comptroller wants to “ensure taxes are being properly collected and Maryland consumers are protected from any potentially damaging industry practices.”
The Comptroller also stated that a meeting will be held in mid-December to discuss this raising issue.
There is an ongoing debated about daily fantasy sports on whether or not it is gambling. The way a fantasy team is prepared takes a degree of skill, but athlete’s performance can vary on a week-to-week basis. So the players are wagering on the performances of athletes during a sporting event for a single day or a week may not take the same amount of skill of managing a team on a week-to-week basis across a season.
The Big Distinction
The NFL commissioner Roger Goodell gave the stance of the league on the distinction between daily and season-long Fantasy Football on Scout. Saying the NFL sees a “big distinction” between DFS and season-long leagues, which he says are “an opportunity to enjoy the game.” Fantasy Football is “not about making money.” Goodell said, “We love people who are going to engage in the game and have fun with it. It’s not about making money. It’s about enjoying the game and enjoying the team, enjoying the players you pick.”
DFS is facing all these issues because an employee of DraftKings released data at the beginning of the third week of NFL games. The employee of DraftKings is a mid-level date manager and he won $350,000 on FanDuel in the same week. The issue lies with the scoring algorithms used by DFS. These algorithms are made by the employees at the DFS sites. The DraftKings employee can be compared to insider trading in the stock market. So anyone that has access to the data can have a large advantage over the people who don’t.
In the New Year Marylanders will know if DPS will be banned or regulated to meet the need of the people. But some people already have mind their minds up about DFS.
“I think it’s going to be illegal soon because no matter how you dress it, it’s still gambling. There is not much skill that goes in to it,” said Richard Hershey a Hood student. “The only things you need to know is who the players are and matches against the defense that they face.”