tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/daily-fantasy-sports-21774/articlesDaily Fantasy Sports – The Conversation2017-07-04T20:11:49Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/799982017-07-04T20:11:49Z2017-07-04T20:11:49ZWhat the rise of daily fantasy sports will mean for problem gambling<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175980/original/file-20170628-25843-59g5sx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sydney's Lance Franklin is a popular choice for many fantasy AFL coaches.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/David Moir</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Fantasy sports is gaining popularity around the world – and it is now big business. Articles relating to the NRL and AFL SuperCoach competitions now appear weekly in the <a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/supercoach/nrl-supercoach-round-16-wrap-haynes-back-in-style-and-widdop-repays-owners-faith/news-story/89fb6d2d5dd49ac442ba3e73fcb274c7">Daily Telegraph</a> and the <a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/subscribe/news/1/index.html?sourceCode=HSWEB_WRE170_a_GGL&mode=premium&dest=http:%2F%2Fwww.heraldsun.com.au%2Fsport%2Fafl%2Fsupercoach-news%2Fsupercoach-market-watch-top-scores-max-gawn-trade-advice-after-round-14%2Fnew">Herald Sun</a> tabloids. Leading daily fantasy operators FanDuel and DraftKings spent more than US$200 million on TV commercials <a href="http://www.seattletimes.com/sports/seahawks/draftkings-and-fanduel-spend-millions-on-fantasy-sports-advertising-and-it-works/">during the 2015 NFL season</a>.</p>
<p>Fantasy sports come in all shapes and sizes. This ranges from typical formats – including fantasy football, baseball and basketball – to the more obscure fantasy bass fishing, movies (predicting box office successes), and Congress (based on achievements of members of the US Congress).</p>
<p>Fantasy sports began as a niche hobby for statistically inclined sports fanatics. But, with the internet, it has evolved into a multi-billion-dollar industry <a href="http://fsta.org/fantasy-sports-grows-to-57-4-million/">played by</a> 16% of the US and Canadian population – or 57.4 million people in total.</p>
<h2>How do fantasy sports work?</h2>
<p>Participants select a virtual team of real-life players from a professional sporting code.</p>
<p>For example, an AFL SuperCoach team may include Sydney forward Lance Franklin, Collingwood midfielder Adam Treloar, and Carlton defender Sam Docherty in a squad of a given number of players, each with a price attached. Each team has a maximum “salary cap” to spend.</p>
<p>During each round of competition, players are awarded “fantasy points” based on their actual game performance statistics. The points may be, for instance, four for a tackle, three for a kick, or two for a handball. Participants are matched against others in their fantasy league, and winners are determined by the best-scoring combination of players per round.</p>
<h2>What are daily fantasy sports?</h2>
<p>Traditional fantasy leagues are conducted over an entire sporting season. They involve a small entry fee, or can be free to enter. But, in recent years, the format of fantasy sports has changed dramatically, with the emergence of a fast-paced variant: daily fantasy sports.</p>
<p>Daily fantasy sports is played over a single game or a round of competition. Participants pay an entry fee, and the top-performing participants win money from the prize pool once the operator has retained a small commission.</p>
<p>In the US, daily fantasy sports is a <a href="https://www.legalsportsreport.com/13243/ny-daily-fantasy-sports/">US$3.2 billion per-year industry</a>. FanDuel and DraftKings have a combined market share of 95%.</p>
<h2>Daily fantasy sports in Australia</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.kwm.com/en/au/knowledge/insights/living-in-fantasy-sports-world-regulation-virtual-team-20160601">Estimates suggest</a> there are 1.65 million (traditional) fantasy sports participants in Australia. This suggests daily fantasy sports competitions are a natural fit to the Australian market. </p>
<p>Rax Huq and Ryan Fitzgerald <a href="http://www.sportingnews.com/au/other-sports/news/moneyball-turn-your-fantasy-skills-in-to-cash/1s3et0pcbvnrl1v4qx4kl7z36n">launched Moneyball in February 2015</a>, the first and largest daily fantasy sports platform in Australia. Since its inception, it has experienced between 50% and 70% <a href="https://hotcopper.com.au/threads/moneyball.3477012/page-6?post_id=25196256">year-over-year revenue growth</a>. </p>
<p>However, Moneyball is no longer the only game in town. Multiple new daily fantasy sports companies have launched similar platforms, including <a href="https://www.legalsportsreport.com/9397/draftday-launches-draftstars-in-australia/">Draftstars</a> (a joint venture between CrownBet, Fox Sports, and Seven West Media). Sports betting company TopBetta has also moved into the Australian market after signing an advertising deal with Fairfax Media to <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/business/topbetta-strikes-fantasy-betting-deal-with-fairfax-media-20160227-gn5iee.html">promote its fantasy tournaments</a>.</p>
<h2>Is it legal?</h2>
<p>In the US, it is illegal to place online wagers on sporting events. However, an <a href="https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/STATUTE-120/pdf/STATUTE-120-Pg1884.pdf">exemption for fantasy sports</a> has allowed the daily fantasy sports industry to develop. </p>
<p>Daily fantasy sports’ legality rests on an assessment of whether its outcomes are determined mostly by chance (gambling, therefore illegal), or the individual skillset of participants (contests, therefore legal). The Fantasy Sports Trade Association has left no doubt as to its position, devoting an entire page of its website to attesting <a href="http://fsta.org/research/why-fantasy-sports-is-not-gambling/">“why fantasy sports is not gambling”</a>. </p>
<p>It seems contradictory, however, that US law bans online poker – which includes a <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13669877.2016.1200657">substantial skill element</a> – but not daily fantasy sports. </p>
<p>Daily fantasy sports also constitutes gambling as it involves staking something of value on an event determined – in part – by chance in the hope of winning something of greater value. </p>
<p>But, as online sports wagering is regulated in Australia, the legal environment for daily fantasy sports operators here has been far less complex. Australian operators are licensed by the <a href="https://justice.nt.gov.au/attorney-general-and-justice/racing-commission/sports-bookmakers-and-betting-exchange-operators">Northern Territory Racing Commission</a>, and their operations are guided by the <a href="http://iga.sa.gov.au/sites/default/files/uploaded/regulatory/GCoP13-V08_0.pdf">South Australian Responsible Gambling Code of Practice</a>.</p>
<h2>Potential for harm</h2>
<p>As with traditional betting forms, excessive involvement in daily fantasy sports – spending more time and/or money on the activity than is personally affordable – <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40429-016-0111-1">will cause</a> users problems that may also affect the people around them. </p>
<p>Early studies on this topic have <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24926906">found a link</a> between fantasy sports involvement and gambling-related problems among US college students. <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40429-015-0068-5">Certain structural features</a> of daily fantasy sports – like high bet frequency, short event duration, high maximum bet amount, and short payout intervals – multiply the potential for harm relative to the traditional fantasy format. </p>
<p>Daily fantasy sports websites also allow users to quickly populate the same team into multiple simultaneous contests. This theoretically allows them to spend thousands of dollars in a matter of seconds. </p>
<p>However, daily fantasy sports’ unique characteristics may serve as protective factors. The key motivations for participating in fantasy sports – fee and no fee – include <a href="http://journals.humankinetics.com/doi/abs/10.1123/jsm.25.1.70">socialising, entertainment and competition</a>, rather than gambling to win money.</p>
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<p><em><a href="https://sydneypsy.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3gVcUeG7zCEZgK9">Click here</a> to find out more about a University of Sydney study and take part in our survey, if you bet on sports and/or play daily fantasy sports.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79998/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dylan Pickering has received funding from ClubsNSW and the Australian National Association for Gambling Studies (NAGS).</span></em></p>Fantasy sports began as a niche hobby for statistically inclined sports fanatics. But, with the internet, it has evolved into a multi-billion-dollar industry.Dylan Pickering, PhD Candidate, School of Psychology, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/502802015-11-12T11:00:53Z2015-11-12T11:00:53ZIs the legalization of sports betting in the US inevitable?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101613/original/image-20151111-9381-14n4h0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Will sports betting ever expand beyond Nevada?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nevada gambling via www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Bill Bradley was a Princeton graduate, All-American basketball player, NBA star, United States senator and one-time candidate for president. He is also the reason that Americans cannot place bets on sporting events unless they travel to Nevada.</p>
<p>In 1992, then-Senator Bradley <a href="http://www.usnews.com/debate-club/should-sports-betting-be-legal">spearheaded</a> an attack on sports betting in the US. Betting on sports undermined the integrity of the games, he asserted, and damaged the public’s confidence that they were free of corruption. Moreover, Bradley argued, legal betting sent a message to the nation’s youth that sports were more about money than achievement and sportsmanship.</p>
<p>The senator was supported in his efforts by the major sports leagues and the NCAA, whose representatives <a href="http://deadspin.com/5935101/new-jersey-wants-to-legalize-sports-betting-the-ncaa-mlb-nfl-nba-and-nhl-want-to-stop-them">testified</a> before Congress that sports betting should be illegal everywhere in the US. </p>
<p>Congress, however, refused to go along with a complete ban. Instead it passed the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) in 1992, which forbade state-licensed sports betting but “grandfathered in” four states that allowed betting at the time (Nevada, Delaware, Oregon and Montana). The act also gave New Jersey one extra year to enact its own sports betting legislation, which it <a href="http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/03/the_story_of_njs_missed_opportunity_on_sports_bett.html">failed</a> to do. </p>
<p>The result of PASPA was to give Nevada a monopoly on single-game sports betting, as the other three states offered only multiple game “<a href="http://sportsgambling.about.com/od/advancedtheory/a/parlays.htm">parlay</a>” contests that have limited appeal. </p>
<p>Now, judicial scrutiny of PASPA and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/with-a-shaky-legal-foundation-are-daily-fantasy-sports-a-billion-dollar-house-of-cards-47914">recent rise</a> of daily fantasy sports (DFS) may threaten that monopoly. Other voices, including some from the professional sports leagues themselves, assert it is time for Congress to reconsider its widespread ban on sports betting. </p>
<p>Is it time to repeal or change PASPA? To answer that question, we need to examine the arguments for and against and why it’s still mostly banned beyond Nevada’s borders. </p>
<h2>A booming business</h2>
<p>The American appetite for sports betting is prodigious. </p>
<p>While Nevada sportsbooks <a href="http://lasvegassun.com/news/2015/feb/02/nevada-sports-books-take-lot-bets-win-little/">handle</a> some US$4 billion in legal bets yearly, anywhere from $50 billion to <a href="http://www.inc.com/slate/jordan-weissmann-is-illegal-sports-betting-a-400-billion-industry.html">$400 billion</a> is bet illegally with bookies and internet-based overseas sports betting companies. </p>
<p>The wide range of estimates exists because businesses operating illegally don’t disclose business records. Even the low end of the range indicates a substantial market for sports betting.</p>
<p>In the last decade, proponents of legalized sports betting have attacked PASPA as bad policy, primarily on three grounds:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>If states could offer sports betting, they would gain considerable revenue by taxing a form of gambling that enjoys wide support in the US. Polls <a href="https://www13.shu.edu/academics/business/sports-polling/upload/11-14-NBA-gambling.pdf">suggest</a> people favor legalizing sports betting by nearly 60%. By allowing such a substantial illegal market, states are leaving untapped a sizable revenue source.</p></li>
<li><p>Legalized sports betting actually promotes integrity of sporting events because licensed sportsbooks have an interest in reporting unusual betting activity to authorities. The sportsbooks stand to lose considerable money if they accept bets on games that have been “fixed,” because a successful sports book operation depends on having a rough equivalence bet on each side of an event.</p></li>
<li><p>By legalizing, regulating and taxing sports betting, we <a href="http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-organized-crime-sports-betting-20140516-story.html">eliminate</a> the illegal market for sports betting, which historically has had connections to organized crime. Better to have the states realize tax revenues from sports betting than to have criminal elements profit.</p></li>
</ol>
<h2>The social costs of gambling are high</h2>
<p>The pro-legalization arguments are far from indisputable. For example, tax revenues <a href="http://espn.go.com/chalk/story/_/id/12555614/betting-sports-betting-legalization-cause-more-problem-gamblers">generated</a> from legalized sports betting might be offset by the social costs created by those with gambling disorders. </p>
<p>Moreover, legalized sports betting does not eliminate match fixing, as European soccer <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/05/sports/soccer/investigation-finds-suspected-fixing-in-680-soccer-matches.html?_r=0">has illustrated</a>, and the belief that professional athletes make too much money to be targets for game-fixing may be mistaken.</p>
<p>Finally, legal sports betting would not put the illegal neighborhood bookie out of business. Sportsbooks operate on a cash up-front basis. A sports bettor typically “settles up” with his bookie on a periodic basis to pay off his losses (or collect winnings) without money being required in advance. </p>
<h2>Where the sports leagues stand</h2>
<p>But the trendlines are clear. Most American sports leagues are gradually coming around to the idea that a structure for legal sports betting would appropriately bring the activity “into the sunlight.” </p>
<p>In November 2014, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/14/opinion/nba-commissioner-adam-silver-legalize-sports-betting.html">called</a> for a federal system of legal sports betting. Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League have also both indicated they might be amenable to such a solution. </p>
<p>So if three of the professional sports in the US are in favor, why is sports betting still illegal?</p>
<p>While Bill Bradley made PASPA possible, it is the NFL’s Roger Goodell who keeps the act viable.</p>
<p>The NFL commissioner recently <a href="http://www.casino.org/news/nfl-forced-to-defend-anti-sports-betting-stance-following-games-in-london">reaffirmed</a> the league’s opposition to sports betting, emphasizing the damage to the integrity of the game that would follow from widespread legalized sports betting. </p>
<p>But does it matter that the NFL is the outlier among the professional sports leagues in this opposition? The answer to this question is undoubtedly yes. </p>
<p>The NFL is a business behemoth with <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2015/07/20/news/green-bay-packers-revenue/">yearly revenues</a> exceeding $10 billion; by 2027 revenues are projected to reach $25 billion. Its television ratings are at all-time highs. </p>
<p>The interest in events such as the NFL Draft and NFL Combine workouts for prospective players has given the league year-around visibility. Along with the NFL’s prominence comes political clout that can blunt efforts to overturn PASPA.</p>
<h2>Is the NFL’s stance hypocritical?</h2>
<p>Among the many <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/fantasy-sports/the-hypocrisy-of-the-nfls-stance-on-sports-gambling-is-no-fantasy/2015/11/01/cf3b8c82-7ddb-11e5-afce-2afd1d3eb896_story.html">criticisms</a> leveled at the NFL is that its opposition to sports betting <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/29/sports/football/nfls-forays-into-london-muddle-its-stance-on-sports-betting.html">cannot be squared</a> with its other actions. </p>
<p>For example, in the 2015 season, three NFL games are being played in Wembley Stadium in London. Sports betting is legal in Britain, and fans can place bets on the NFL games at nearby sportsbooks or even at the game from their mobile phones. No claims have been made that the integrity of these games has been affected in any way.</p>
<p>Moreover, here at home, the NFL <a href="http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/10/08/goodell-explains-why-nfl-has-no-issues-with-daily-fantasy/">has developed</a> extensive connections to the daily fantasy sports industry. Nearly all NFL teams have some sort of <a href="http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2015/11/05/nfl-gambling-daily-fantasy-dfs-draftkings-fanduel-goodell">relationship</a> with the two largest DFS operators, DraftKings and FanDuel. These DFS industry leaders sponsor “fantasy lounges” at several NFL stadiums, and two NFL owners have equity stakes in these companies.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2015/11/05/nfl-gambling-daily-fantasy-dfs-draftkings-fanduel-goodell">legal question</a> of whether DFS should be considered sports betting is far from settled. Recently, the New York attorney general <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/11/sports/football/draftkings-fanduel-new-york-attorney-general-tells-fantasy-sites-to-stop-taking-bets-in-new-york.html">issued</a> a cease and desist order to DraftKings and FanDuel, stating that the companies were engaged in illegal gambling operations in the state. </p>
<p>Last month, the Nevada Gaming Control Board likewise <a href="http://espn.go.com/chalk/story/_/id/13897401/daily-fantasy-outlawed-nevada-gaming-control-board-being-unlicensed-gambling">declared</a> that DFS is a form of sports betting that requires licensing. Commissioner Goodell, however, insists that he “doesn’t look at <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-todays-nfl-forget-super-bowl-dreams-its-all-about-fantasy-46652">fantasy sports</a> as gambling,” and that the legality issue should be left to states to determine. </p>
<p>Finally, legalized sports betting could provide states considerable tax revenue, which could be shared with cities. This would seem to be fair in that NFL teams have benefited considerably from government subsidies to build stadiums. </p>
<p>This arrangement hasn’t always worked to the <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-12-18/cincinnati-stadiums-bury-county-government-in-debt">economic benefit</a> of the community. Using government subsidies to help fund a stadium owned by a profitable professional sports team is a dubious proposition; denying states tax revenue from legalized sports betting only magnifies the problem.</p>
<h2>What might make the NFL change its position?</h2>
<p>One view is that the NFL would no longer oppose sports betting if a regulatory structure were created that <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidlariviere/2014/09/19/legalization-of-sports-betting-would-be-huge-revenue-producer-for-leagues-expert-says">monetized</a> the activity to its benefit. For example, if there were a small tax on every sports bet made on an NFL game that went to the league, wouldn’t that be a financial bonanza the league couldn’t pass up?</p>
<p>This perspective assumes, of course, that the NFL’s “integrity” justification is a sham, and that it is really a financial matter. This may be true, but not in the way many people believe. The money the NFL is focused on is the money it already makes for the owners of the teams, and the revenue streams unrelated to sports betting that will develop in the future.</p>
<p>The NFL generates $10 billion a year in revenue without legalized betting. The risk of a betting scandal that would jeopardize the profitability of the NFL juggernaut has to be considered. Simply put, the financial potential of legalized sports betting may not be large enough to cause the NFL to relent in its opposition to a change in PASPA.</p>
<h2>Where we go from here</h2>
<p>Federal court litigation could change the dynamics of the sports betting debate. </p>
<p>Currently pending before the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals is a challenge to PASPA by the state of New Jersey. If the court ruled that there was a way around PASPA, as New Jersey claims, many other states would follow suit. At that point, the major sports leagues, including the NFL, would have to seek a national system of sports betting. The court’s ruling, likely many months away, could be decisive.</p>
<p>But it is far from certain that sports betting will expand beyond Nevada’s borders. </p>
<p>A few years ago there was frequent talk of how widespread internet gambling in the US was inevitable. So far that has proven to be untrue. </p>
<p>Unless the judiciary forces the hand of the NFL, those who say that legalized sports betting is a matter of “when and not if” may experience similar frustrations.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/50280/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Keith Miller does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Betting on sports has been illegal in most states since 1992. Is it time that changed?Keith Miller, Ellis and Nelle Levitt Distinguished Professor of Law, Drake UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/492752015-10-22T09:51:45Z2015-10-22T09:51:45ZA gambling expert weighs in: what makes daily fantasy sports so alluring – and dangerous – for young men?<p>Two facts can’t be disputed: Americans love their sports, and they love to gamble. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/4735/sports.aspx">According to Gallup</a>, nearly 60% of Americans call themselves sports fans, while ESPN broadcasts continuous sports coverage to <a href="http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2013/08/23/list-of-how-many-homes-each-cable-networks-is-in-cable-network-coverage-estimates-as-of-august-2013/199072/">almost 100 million homes</a>. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, state-sanctioned casinos, poker rooms and lotteries are only proliferating. Once relegated to Nevada and Atlantic City, casino gambling has now expanded into 31 states, as the state capitals hope to use gambling revenues to address budget shortfalls. In Nevada, where there is legalized betting on the outcomes of sporting events, <a href="http://www.statista.com/statistics/188360/gross-gaming-revenue-of-nevada-sports-books-since-2006/">billions of dollars are wagered annually</a>.</p>
<p>By now, you’ve probably heard of daily fantasy sports, which currently occupies a <a href="https://theconversation.com/with-a-shaky-legal-foundation-are-daily-fantasy-sports-a-billion-dollar-house-of-cards-47914">legal gray area</a>. Some states <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/16/sports/gambling-regulators-block-daily-fantasy-sites-in-nevada.html?_r=0">have called it gambling</a>, while others claim it’s perfectly legal given it’s a game of skill. </p>
<p>Either way, there’s no denying that money is being wagered. And it should say something that professional poker players are <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/06/former-pro-poker-player-makes-a-living-on-fantasy-sports.html">transitioning</a> to daily fantasy sports.</p>
<p>But as someone who has studied the gambling behaviors of young people for over 20 years, I argue that it’s the fact that young men are signing up to play in droves that represents the most disconcerting trend. </p>
<h2>Gambling’s new frontier</h2>
<p>With the rise of the internet, gambling has dramatically changed.</p>
<p>Whereas before, there was a dependency on traditional land-based forms of gambling (casinos, slots parlors, poker rooms), technology now has allowed us to wager on virtually anything – whether it’s slots, bingo, lotteries, card games, poker or, yes, sporting events – from the comfort of our living rooms.</p>
<p>At a federal level, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006 was designed to prevent Americans from engaging in online gambling, especially poker and sporting events. </p>
<p>Fantasy sports were explicitly exempt, with the idea that fantasy sports were “skill-based.”</p>
<p>But back then, fantasy sports were different. A group of friends would pick players to form their own teams, which they would follow over the course of a professional season. Entry fees varied; often players wouldn’t compete for money at all. In essence, it provided a fun, exciting and interesting way for sports enthusiasts to compete against each other, whether for money, entertainment or bragging rights among friends.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99078/original/image-20151020-32264-eo009p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99078/original/image-20151020-32264-eo009p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99078/original/image-20151020-32264-eo009p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99078/original/image-20151020-32264-eo009p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99078/original/image-20151020-32264-eo009p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99078/original/image-20151020-32264-eo009p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99078/original/image-20151020-32264-eo009p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some friends gather for a traditional fantasy baseball draft.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/joshsjackson/434492725/in/photolist-6bLyna-6b8LmH-9qmx1c-6b8ySi-6b8QGD-6b8KUB-6b8xdZ-6bd2id-6b8xKH-6b8wEP-6bcU6N-6b8GNX-6b8R8F-6bcLwA-6b8T8X-6b8Nkt-6bcQYw-6bcWy7-6bcXF9-6bcKAo-6bcTy1-6bcYE7-6bcPs5-6bcMru-6b8Aw2-aT4nf-rGBCua-o7AKba-AZvj-AZvi-bNSxNr-EoTuY-4dvWUv-EoTsp-EoTxT-rEpsXT-9qbybq-7KXeWh-7KTgXM-7KXf1W-F1ZnK-GtGi7-atZPx2-3mzm67-o7AJYM-o9FcYa-nQqxxn/">josh s jackson/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
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<p>Perhaps identifying a loophole in the absence of widespread legalized sports betting, the season-long fantasy sports model became warped, as sites like FanDuel and DraftKings created “daily” platforms that allowed participants to place new bets and create multiple teams every day of the week.</p>
<p>Much attention has been made of the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/17/sports/football/draftkings-fanduel-fantasy-sports-games.html">millions</a> that these daily fantasy sports companies have spent on luring new players. </p>
<p>It’s worked. DraftKings, which had roughly 200,000 people signed up last year, has seen a <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/article38479017.html">tenfold increase</a> in registered users.</p>
<p>With bets that can be placed with a click on a smartphone, daily fantasy sports represent a potent mixture: they add an extra layer of excitement and intrigue to the sporting events we already love, while also fueling our desire to gamble, offering the opportunity to showcase our prowess at “beating the odds” – without even leaving the living room.</p>
<h2>Young men are particularly vulnerable</h2>
<p>The Fantasy Sports Trade Association (FSTA) <a href="http://fsta.org/research/industry-demographics/">has suggested</a> that upwards of 40 million Americans play fantasy sports, which generates over US$15 billion in entry fees. According to the FSTA, the typical player is male (66%) and someone who spends upwards of 18 hours per week consuming sports, with nine of those hours spent engaged in some form of fantasy sports wagering. </p>
<p>Why are so many young men drawn to fantasy sports wagering? And what makes them particularly vulnerable?</p>
<p>Well, for one, the millennial generation has grown up with all the digital toys at their disposal: smartphones, tablets and laptops. Data is but a touch away. Fantasy sports operators have capitalized on this reality and have developed platforms for both wagering that provide real-time data updates. </p>
<p>But beyond the impressive technological capabilities of daily fantasy sports platforms, gambling research provides some clues why the games resonate so much with this demographic.</p>
<p>Besides the obvious allure of winning lots of money (even I’m intrigued by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnvTXsqLxoE">an ad which boasts</a> of a player starting with $35 and winning $2 million), there has been research suggesting that young males, in particular, find this activity attractive. </p>
<p>According to our research, for these young men playing fantasy sports can:</p>
<ul>
<li>make the sporting events more interesting</li>
<li>reaffirm their masculinity </li>
<li>offer an escape from daily routines and stressors </li>
<li>allow them to form bonds with their peers </li>
<li>fuel competitive drives </li>
<li>allow them to have more complex experiences </li>
<li>and give them the opportunity for bragging rights. </li>
</ul>
<p>While most individuals engage in this form of wagering in a socially responsible manner (setting and adhering to personal time and money limits), they’re still devoting vast amounts of time to fantasy sports, which precludes them from taking advantage of social and academic opportunities.</p>
<p>In a large-scale study among college athletes from 2004 to 2012, we found a dramatic increase in the number of male and female college student athletes wagering on fantasy sports sites.</p>
<p>While we won’t know for sure, it makes you wonder how many of these players will go on to experience actual gambling problems. </p>
<p>This is not to suggest that fantasy sports wagering actually results in a gambling problem; rather, it may well be that young people with gambling problems just view this as another easy opportunity to gamble. However, the amount of time spent on this one activity – along with the lack of robust age verification barriers – is of considerable concern.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, recent research <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/young-people-risky-investors-2014-12">has shown</a> that people under 25 are playing fast and loose with their investments (and don’t have much to show for it). Whether or not this is indicative of our culture’s larger <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-world-series-of-pokers-colossus-event-and-americas-obsession-with-risk-42658">obsession with risk</a>, it does speak to a certain vulnerability that young people who wager on daily fantasy sports possess.</p>
<p>Ultimately, whether fantasy sports are viewed strictly as skill-based or gambling will be left for the courts to decide. </p>
<p>Until then, the lure – and pitfalls – of engaging in daily fantasy sports remain. After all, for generations the gambling industry has thrived off the same core principle: for every winner, there must be many more losers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/49275/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jeffrey Derevensky receives funding from a variety of governmental and corporate agencies for his research and training activities. </span></em></p>For many, the marriage of two American pastimes – gambling and sports – can be almost impossible to resist.Jeffrey Derevensky, Professor & Chair, Educational & Counselling Psychology, McGill UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.