Introduction
The actions of the Attorney General are based on his assumption that the activities on sites like Draft Kings and Fan Duel can be considered as a form f gambling.
Considering Fantasy Football as Gambling
Fantasy Football utilizes a combination of saber metrics, statistical probability and luck in order to pull off what can be described as a “win” (i.e. your team moving towards the next round of the competition). Gambling is considered as games of chance where a person has only a small percentage of control over the outcome based on their selection. Now, while both may seem similar on the surface, fantasy football is more akin to stock market trading than it is gambling (Dwyer and Yongjae 75).
This is due to the fact that there are players with a proven statistical advantage over others as compared to gambling where any number, card, or dice roll technically all have statistically equal chances of appearing. Not only that, fantasy football was originally created as a means of having fun based on a person’s knowledge about the sport, it does not technically wager on the outcome of individual games; rather, it focuses on individual player performances (Dwyer 37). Taking this into consideration, it can be stated that fantasy football and its other iterations on sites like Draft Kings is not a form of gambling.
Regulation for Fantasy Football
There are several factors that you need to take into consideration when it comes to fantasy football and using websites like draft kings. First, is the fact that learning curb when it comes to entering any of these types of saber metric based online draft games is incredibly steep. A player would need to understand the different aspects of the sport as well as how statistical probability factors into a particular player being better than another in order to have even a modicum of success (McCafferty 1).
This creates a barrier to entry that is not as easy to overcome as compared to the games of chance involved in gambling wherein the rules are relatively straightforward and easy to understand. This lower threshold for gambling requires it to have more extensive regulations due to how socially damaging it can be to people. In the case of fantasy football and other games on draft kings, regulations should primarily be isolated to taxation and not allowing minors to play. That should be the full extent of the regulations implemented since it does not have the same ease of entry as gambling and other personally destructive ventures.
Outlawing Fantasy Football
When looking at the basis behind the banning of poker, the fact was that it was still considered as gambling since real life poker hinges on the outcome of the game. Fantasy Football and its counterparts focus on player performance resulting in an entirely different way of looking at the outcome. One of the reasons why gambling is so heavily regulated is that it has the potential for impacting the outcome of a game through a player intentionally playing poorly in order for statistically improbable odds bet against their team to come out succeeding. However, in the case of draft kings and other fantasy leagues, such a strategy would be ineffective since progress hinges on how good a player is and not how bad they play. This shows that since fantasy football does not fall under the same issues as gambling, from a social and technical perspective, then the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act of 2006 should not apply.
Works Cited
Dwyer, Brendan. “The Impact Of Game Outcomes On Fantasy Football Participation And National Football League Media Consumption.” Sport Marketing Quarterly 22.1 (2013): 33-47. Print
Dwyer, Brendan, and Kim Yongjae. “For Love Or Money: Developing And Validating A Motivational Scale For Fantasy Football Participation.” Journal Of Sport Management 25.1 (2011): 70-83. Print
McCafferty, Dennis. “What Business Can Learn From Fantasy Football.” Baseline (2015): 1. Print