Pallone Wants Legal Status Of Fantasy Sports Betting Reviewed

“So, this is gambling, outright, and yet they continue to spend millions of dollars, in a hypocritical sense, to try and stop sports betting through their lawsuits because they claim it’s immoral or it’s going to get the players… involved in organized crime”.

In the short term, the answer is clearly, yes. This came just one month after DraftKings formed a $250 million exclusive ad partnership with ESPN.

Peter Schoenke, president of the Fantasy Sports Trade Association, said his group also decided to hire lobbyist Brian Ballard and his firm this summer because it’s “important to establish a presence in Tallahassee and begin educating legislators about the dynamics of fantasy sports”.

National Football League officials have replied that daily fantasy sports isn’t gambling but rather a game of skill.

I say “somehow” because it is an embarrassingly specious argument. So, for now, people can continue their fantasy football season uninterrupted. “How is that different than wagering money on the outcome of a game?”, said Pallone in a statement on his website. There’s a word for that: gambling. These certain websites use the fact that choosing teams is skill-based, rather than chance-based. When I lived in Missouri, gambling wasn’t legal, unless you were on water in a riverboat, when it was legal. A pair of researchers looked at the first half of this Major League Baseball season and found that 91% of profits were won by 1.3% of players. But players are now spending more and betting more on this market. If you’re into the adrenaline rush you get from a blackjack or poker table, you may well enjoy playing. Fans are now commonly, openly rooting against their favorite team, and instead rooting for an opposing player who they have on their fantasy team. After the real-life games are over, the teams are scored on how well their athletes performed on the field. Whether governments continue the charade is another matter.

“The bottom line is they’re just against sports betting because they can’t control it”, Pallone told WCBS 880’s Kelly Waldron. That distinction allows for fans in 45 states, including New Jersey and New York, to participate in such fantasy contests. California is now the 12th state in 2015 to consider daily fantasy sports legislation, according to Legal Sports Report. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has somewhat waffled on the subject, seemingly resigned to the inevitability of legal gambling while remaining concerned about its effects, to which he thinks hockey would be less susceptible than higher-scoring sports such as basketball and football.