At the smaller sites? Their roster setups and pricing setups are usually more unique because they have to product differentiate so the ownership %s on those sites really have no correlation to being valuable for DK/FD.
DK/FD have similar roster setup and scoring isn't too different.
It just wouldn't be valuable info in terms of using it for GPP game theory.
Now stop being so salty, it's just DFS man, jeez....
You should see my pro-nuclear power posts, then you would really think I'm a sociopath.
The 10 mil is a figure based on what they've won and not specifically on one site or another.
It's a whole combined figure with their own site included since employees have indeed played at their place of employment.
In trying to save as much respectability they could, and in hopes it would make the govt happy enough to not intervene, DraftKings hired a 3rd party to come in and do their own investigation, so to speak.
Since then, based on all the money circulated, employees were said to have won a small percentage.
But that "small" percentage was based on numbers so high, the figures came to $10 million.
It could actually be more.
Pats says it's not an issue, but it obviously is because here you have Draftkings, Fanduel, etc. owners & employees pumping all of this money into trying to win contests which are supposed to be primarily for your customers.
That just isnt right plain & simple.
Now add the fact the owners & employees have information that gives them a slight advantage, that the public customers/don't, and it makes matters worse & takes us to all the controversy we now have.
Yes
The 6M # comes from this Darren Rovell column and it is ALL gross winnings from DK employees at FD.
FanDuel spokesperson Justine Sacco told ESPN.com on Tuesday that the company's internal data showed that DraftKings employees won 0.3 percent of the money the company has awarded in its history. While Sacco wouldn't disclose the specific number, it is known the company has given out nearly $2 billion, which would put the DraftKings employees' winnings at around $6 million.
http://espn.go.com/chalk/story/_/id...-bans-employees-playing-dfs-money-amid-inquir
DK employees did not win money 6M gross on DK. That is false information.
FanDuel spokesperson Justine Sacco told ESPN.com on Tuesday that the company's internal data showed that DraftKings employees won 0.3 percent of the money the company has awarded in its history. While Sacco wouldn't disclose the specific number, it is known the company has given out nearly $2 billion, which would put the DraftKings employees' winnings at around $6 million.
http://espn.go.com/chalk/story/_/id...-bans-employees-playing-dfs-money-amid-inquir
DK employees did not win money 6M gross on DK. That is false information.
Pats, the figures vary depending on the person.
Ive heard all kinds of numbers.
And again, they were caught in a bold face lie about employees never playing on their own site.
States right on their site they can.
I guess with everything going on they made yet another computer mistake by not removing it before claiming "we've always been against our employees playing on-site"
Since then, CEO has been asked a few times about everything just explained above, and he refuses to answer.
I love fantasy & been & like many been playing it before it was cool, since i was about 10.
But playing DFS 2-3 years ago i had my doubts that there were truly as many real players in the large tournaments as it said because like it just wasn't popular enough.
Knowing computers, like anyone else who does, realizes with a game & software such as those sites, anything can be added, edited, changed, or faked & nobody would know.
Here's an example for those who don't get it....
I post on here that i have a 1,000 man contest & need 100 of you guys to help fill it as i already have 900 entered.
100 of you guys enter on my site im hosting it on, but little do you know, the other 900 participants don't even exist, and I merely had them created in minutes via my software.
So now, i have my 900 'players' up against only 100.
I do this every day, and my odds are so great, that I'm rich in no time.
Im not saying this is happening now, but the truth is, it COULD and without some type of regulation, the public wouldn't know.
Just hard to trust anyone these day as you all know..
Ive heard all kinds of numbers.
And again, they were caught in a bold face lie about employees never playing on their own site.
States right on their site they can.
I guess with everything going on they made yet another computer mistake by not removing it before claiming "we've always been against our employees playing on-site"
Since then, CEO has been asked a few times about everything just explained above, and he refuses to answer.
I love fantasy & been & like many been playing it before it was cool, since i was about 10.
But playing DFS 2-3 years ago i had my doubts that there were truly as many real players in the large tournaments as it said because like it just wasn't popular enough.
Knowing computers, like anyone else who does, realizes with a game & software such as those sites, anything can be added, edited, changed, or faked & nobody would know.
Here's an example for those who don't get it....
I post on here that i have a 1,000 man contest & need 100 of you guys to help fill it as i already have 900 entered.
100 of you guys enter on my site im hosting it on, but little do you know, the other 900 participants don't even exist, and I merely had them created in minutes via my software.
So now, i have my 900 'players' up against only 100.
I do this every day, and my odds are so great, that I'm rich in no time.
Im not saying this is happening now, but the truth is, it COULD and without some type of regulation, the public wouldn't know.
Just hard to trust anyone these day as you all know..
In this age of misinformation I actually did think that perhaps you read that somewhere but I can't seem to find it. You must have just put it in your head somehow.
Do you have a link saying Draftkings employees won 10 million on Draftkings and FanDuel? Probably got taken down since getting sued for libel isn't much fun.
Do you have a link saying Draftkings employees won 10 million on Draftkings and FanDuel? Probably got taken down since getting sued for libel isn't much fun.
Yeah, I agree with that. It really is just a random guess. You want some comedy? Google Justine Sacco, lol. Got fired for tweeting something controversial on an airplane like 5 years ago. When she landed, she lost her job.
Whether the # is 5 or 15 though, the main thing is a policy is now in place where employees can't play on the sites. If that new policy isn't to peoples satisfaction then I would just suggest not bothering to play.
This is definitely true. Or you could have a "prop player" that you just give free rake to and have him eat all the liquidity (i.e join all the games)
With free rake and good lineups he just slowly grinds out the games.
Big sites no real incentive to do that but that is why smaller sites people should be skeptical of. That was moreso an issue like 2-3 years ago when there were a lot of smaller sites but now Draftkings/FanDuel pretty much crushed the smaller sites that none of them really have much action on them. They just stay open hoping that some big $ will come along and buy them out wanting to get into the "red hot daily fantasy space".
The site victiv was a small site and pokerstars bought them for like 5 million just wanting to get into the industry. You never know how dumb people can be, how Mark Cuban got rich.
I have 0 clue what regulation would look like.
No basis for comparison really. There is no other legal internet gambling in the US of any kind that is strictly internet/app based to my knowledge.
If I had to guess, I'd guess there is some type of licensing deal you have to get. Might have to be federal as well and then the states can exempt.
I always figured DK knew what they were doing because they pushed the envelope so much. If you're putting contests up based on South Korea video game celebrities, you must not be too worried about legality/regulation issues.
That Boston AG that said she was going to "look into it" did comeout and say she thinks it is legal so I guess that is 1 hurdle they cleared.
No basis for comparison really. There is no other legal internet gambling in the US of any kind that is strictly internet/app based to my knowledge.
If I had to guess, I'd guess there is some type of licensing deal you have to get. Might have to be federal as well and then the states can exempt.
I always figured DK knew what they were doing because they pushed the envelope so much. If you're putting contests up based on South Korea video game celebrities, you must not be too worried about legality/regulation issues.
That Boston AG that said she was going to "look into it" did comeout and say she thinks it is legal so I guess that is 1 hurdle they cleared.
I posted the lineup used in the thread in the NFL forum, which seemingly was largely ignored. Nonetheless, When trying to determine if knowing ownership percentages was used to produce the lineup that cashed, it would be important to know what that lineup was. Only then can you properly analyze and draw the conclusion that it may have occurred. I think most reading basically understands how ownership percentage could be used to gain an advantage. When players with smaller ownership percentages outperform players at that position with larger ownership percentage, an advantage is gained. There's absolutely no guarantee that will happen, but it's certainly worth a shot.
In addition, it would be useful to know what other entries this user had and what those lineups looked like. There is a way to find this out. It requires having a Fanduel account and an entry in that particular contest (from Sept 27 - 6 million in payouts with a $25 entry fee). If anyone had an entry they could go to their history and find the entry for that contest and click on "view". This will show you the entire scoreboard for each entry in order of finish. The 2nd place entry would show their username. You could then peruse the list to find other entries for that user. Clicking on an entry will show their lineup.
Anyway, here's the lineup that Ethan Haskell used to place 2nd. With regard to knowing ownership percentages, the selections of Andy Dalton and AJ Green could be considered suspicious. It's definitely not uncommon to marry a receiver to a QB.
Regarding the use of Devonte Freeman, I had several Fanduel entries that week in lesser contests and used Davonte Freeman in all but one. You had a player that was priced like a backup, but was going to get used by the Falcons as the starter. It was an astute selection. Randall Cobb could've been owned a little more. Allen Hurns wasn't on the radar of many.
QB - Andy Dalton (2.3% owned)
RB - Adrian Peterson (18.6% owned)
RB - Davonte Freeman (6.7% owned)
WR - Randall Cobb (8.2% owned)
WR - AJ Green (4.4% owned)
WR - Allen Hurns (2% owned)
TE - Greg Olsen (10.5% owned)
K - Stephen Gostkowski (10.8% owned)
Def - Seattle Seahawks (22.6 % owned
Of note, although most here understand the facts and dynamics, much of the public is fairly clueless. I had a friend call me yesterday and tell me that he was told that people at these sites were past posting entries at halftime and robbing everybody by winning all the money. It was a definite challenge to provide the facts and get that ridiculous notion out of their mind. He went to a race track later in the day and told me that everyone there was talking about it and believing the erroneous narrative (not unlike what occurs in the right wing echo chamber).
In addition, it would be useful to know what other entries this user had and what those lineups looked like. There is a way to find this out. It requires having a Fanduel account and an entry in that particular contest (from Sept 27 - 6 million in payouts with a $25 entry fee). If anyone had an entry they could go to their history and find the entry for that contest and click on "view". This will show you the entire scoreboard for each entry in order of finish. The 2nd place entry would show their username. You could then peruse the list to find other entries for that user. Clicking on an entry will show their lineup.
Anyway, here's the lineup that Ethan Haskell used to place 2nd. With regard to knowing ownership percentages, the selections of Andy Dalton and AJ Green could be considered suspicious. It's definitely not uncommon to marry a receiver to a QB.
Regarding the use of Devonte Freeman, I had several Fanduel entries that week in lesser contests and used Davonte Freeman in all but one. You had a player that was priced like a backup, but was going to get used by the Falcons as the starter. It was an astute selection. Randall Cobb could've been owned a little more. Allen Hurns wasn't on the radar of many.
QB - Andy Dalton (2.3% owned)
RB - Adrian Peterson (18.6% owned)
RB - Davonte Freeman (6.7% owned)
WR - Randall Cobb (8.2% owned)
WR - AJ Green (4.4% owned)
WR - Allen Hurns (2% owned)
TE - Greg Olsen (10.5% owned)
K - Stephen Gostkowski (10.8% owned)
Def - Seattle Seahawks (22.6 % owned
Of note, although most here understand the facts and dynamics, much of the public is fairly clueless. I had a friend call me yesterday and tell me that he was told that people at these sites were past posting entries at halftime and robbing everybody by winning all the money. It was a definite challenge to provide the facts and get that ridiculous notion out of their mind. He went to a race track later in the day and told me that everyone there was talking about it and believing the erroneous narrative (not unlike what occurs in the right wing echo chamber).
<section id="module-position-Oe7ByqRSSag" class="storytopbar-bucket story-headline-module story-story-headline-module" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.4px;">[h=1]FanDuel, DraftKings always walked fine line[/h]
Brent Schrotenboer, USA TODAY Sports2:41 p.m. EDT October 8, 2015
Speaking to a crowd of fantasy sports companies in January, a <culink class="culinks" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/Lobbying in the United States" title="" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dashed; cursor: help; display: inline !important; float: none !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(182, 20, 0) !important;">Washington lobbyist</culink> gave some urgent advice.
Be careful, he told them. If the companies got too aggressive with their advertising, they could face some harsh blowback from those who might want to crack down on them.
“Everybody needs to really think about who’s listening when you speak,” the lobbyist, Tom Walls, told the convention crowd. “We speak in advertisements. We speak in the press. Use good language. Avoid language that could lead to this further confusion of fantasy sports and betting. This is the stuff that will be weapons for people who want to pass unwelcome legislation about fantasy sports.”
It was a hard line to walk for companies that are offering big cash prizes to customers who want to risk money on sports.
For starters, Walls made his remarks at a fantasy sports industry conference in Las Vegas — on the same floor where gamblers were making legal sports bets at the<culink class="culinks" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/Bellagio" title="" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dashed; cursor: help; display: inline !important; float: none !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(182, 20, 0) !important;">Bellagio</culink> hotel-casino.
Several months later, daily fantasy companies <culink class="culinks" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/DraftKings" title="" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dashed; cursor: help; display: inline !important; float: none !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(182, 20, 0) !important;">DraftKings</culink> and <culink class="culinks" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/FanDuel" title="" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dashed; cursor: help; display: inline !important; float: none !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(182, 20, 0) !important;">FanDuel</culink> started blitzing the airwaves with advertisements bragging about how much money they pay out to winners.
Neither company is profitable yet. So they were making a gamble of their own, hoping that big spending on advertising now will bring in more revenue later. But now it’s backfired. The commercials got too much attention, including from lawmakers who want more oversight over this booming new industry.
Among them was a state <culink class="culinks" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/Assembly" title="" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dashed; cursor: help; display: inline !important; float: none !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(182, 20, 0) !important;">Assemblyman</culink> from California, Adam Gray, who has introduced a bill to oversee the industry. His bill seeks to make sure the state is not subject to an unnecessary and unprecedented expansion of gambling and that the state is “not deprived of revenues to which it would otherwise be entitled from these activities.”
“Like everyone else, Assemblyman Gray noted that almost every other ad during the opening weekend of football promoted fantasy gaming online,” Gray’s chief of staff, Mike Lynch, told USA TODAY Sports. “His interest is to insure a level of consumer and law enforcement protection.”
It’s exactly what these companies were trying to avoid. After operating largely without regulation, now they face possible fees, taxation and rules they didn’t have to deal with previously, if not some sort of ban.
The heat intensified this week when it was learned that an employee for DraftKings had won $350,000 in a contest on FanDuel. The same employee had inadvertently leaked insider data about which players were the hottest to own that week — information that could be used to identify market inefficiencies and improve one’s chances of success against the field.
The companies said there was no evidence of wrongdoing or insider trading, but New York Attorney General <culink class="culinks" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/Eric Schneiderman" title="" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dashed; cursor: help; display: inline !important; float: none !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(182, 20, 0) !important;">Eric Schneiderman</culink> has launched an inquiry in response.
“What happened in over the last few days is probably the single greatest engine towards regulation that we’re going to have,” said attorney Daniel Wallach, an expert in sports and gaming law.
Federal law allows paid fantasy sports under certain conditions, including having it reflect the skill of the participants, instead of pure luck like traditional gambling. In exchange for an entry fee, daily fantasy sports companies generally offer fans a chance to win daily cash payouts based on the statistical performance of athletes in games that day or week.
But the explosive growth of daily fantasy sports wasn’t foreseen at the time this law passed in 2006. FanDuel alone is valued at more than $1 billion and reported 1.2 million users in 2014.
And now that growth is in jeopardy. Both companies scrambled to answer questions this week about insider access to data that could easily be used to gain an advantage over the public. They even hired outside law firms to review their internal controls against fraud.
“DraftKings’ explosive growth is a testament to our ability to deepen our fans’ engagement with the sports they love,” the company said in a statement Wednesday. “We are committed to reinforcing the trust and security of our millions of loyal customers.”
A research analyst who studies the industry predicted something like this would happen at the same conference in January. Speaking about the future of daily fantasy sports, Adam Krejcik forecast that “within the next 18 months the (daily fantasy) industry will likely face one major PR fiasco.”
He said it might be a data breach, a cheating scandal or a political attack. He said then that the industry’s ability to overcome this will be key.
That could mean accepting or welcoming regulation instead of fighting it and trying to avoid it by using careful word choices, which has gotten somewhat exhausting.
At the conference in January, for example, Paul Charchian, president of the Fantasy Sports Trade Assocation, ripped fantasy companies that used the term “rake” — a word that describes how a cardroom makes money in poker. They generally “rake” around 10% of the pool, much like daily fantasy sports companies.
But Krejcik apparently didn’t get the message about what to call it. During his presentation about daily fantasy companies later that day, he said, “The operator collects a rake, and that’s more or less how they make money.”
Listening in the crowd was a FanDuel employee, who shook his head at this statement — either a mistake or a truth, depending on the viewpoint.
</section><section id="module-position-Oe7ByqR1K-s" class="storytopbar-bucket story-byline-module story-story-byline-module" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.4px;"></section>
Brent Schrotenboer, USA TODAY Sports2:41 p.m. EDT October 8, 2015
Speaking to a crowd of fantasy sports companies in January, a <culink class="culinks" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/Lobbying in the United States" title="" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dashed; cursor: help; display: inline !important; float: none !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(182, 20, 0) !important;">Washington lobbyist</culink> gave some urgent advice.
Be careful, he told them. If the companies got too aggressive with their advertising, they could face some harsh blowback from those who might want to crack down on them.
“Everybody needs to really think about who’s listening when you speak,” the lobbyist, Tom Walls, told the convention crowd. “We speak in advertisements. We speak in the press. Use good language. Avoid language that could lead to this further confusion of fantasy sports and betting. This is the stuff that will be weapons for people who want to pass unwelcome legislation about fantasy sports.”
It was a hard line to walk for companies that are offering big cash prizes to customers who want to risk money on sports.
For starters, Walls made his remarks at a fantasy sports industry conference in Las Vegas — on the same floor where gamblers were making legal sports bets at the<culink class="culinks" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/Bellagio" title="" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dashed; cursor: help; display: inline !important; float: none !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(182, 20, 0) !important;">Bellagio</culink> hotel-casino.
Several months later, daily fantasy companies <culink class="culinks" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/DraftKings" title="" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dashed; cursor: help; display: inline !important; float: none !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(182, 20, 0) !important;">DraftKings</culink> and <culink class="culinks" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/FanDuel" title="" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dashed; cursor: help; display: inline !important; float: none !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(182, 20, 0) !important;">FanDuel</culink> started blitzing the airwaves with advertisements bragging about how much money they pay out to winners.
Neither company is profitable yet. So they were making a gamble of their own, hoping that big spending on advertising now will bring in more revenue later. But now it’s backfired. The commercials got too much attention, including from lawmakers who want more oversight over this booming new industry.
Among them was a state <culink class="culinks" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/Assembly" title="" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dashed; cursor: help; display: inline !important; float: none !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(182, 20, 0) !important;">Assemblyman</culink> from California, Adam Gray, who has introduced a bill to oversee the industry. His bill seeks to make sure the state is not subject to an unnecessary and unprecedented expansion of gambling and that the state is “not deprived of revenues to which it would otherwise be entitled from these activities.”
“Like everyone else, Assemblyman Gray noted that almost every other ad during the opening weekend of football promoted fantasy gaming online,” Gray’s chief of staff, Mike Lynch, told USA TODAY Sports. “His interest is to insure a level of consumer and law enforcement protection.”
It’s exactly what these companies were trying to avoid. After operating largely without regulation, now they face possible fees, taxation and rules they didn’t have to deal with previously, if not some sort of ban.
The heat intensified this week when it was learned that an employee for DraftKings had won $350,000 in a contest on FanDuel. The same employee had inadvertently leaked insider data about which players were the hottest to own that week — information that could be used to identify market inefficiencies and improve one’s chances of success against the field.
The companies said there was no evidence of wrongdoing or insider trading, but New York Attorney General <culink class="culinks" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/Eric Schneiderman" title="" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dashed; cursor: help; display: inline !important; float: none !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(182, 20, 0) !important;">Eric Schneiderman</culink> has launched an inquiry in response.
“What happened in over the last few days is probably the single greatest engine towards regulation that we’re going to have,” said attorney Daniel Wallach, an expert in sports and gaming law.
Federal law allows paid fantasy sports under certain conditions, including having it reflect the skill of the participants, instead of pure luck like traditional gambling. In exchange for an entry fee, daily fantasy sports companies generally offer fans a chance to win daily cash payouts based on the statistical performance of athletes in games that day or week.
But the explosive growth of daily fantasy sports wasn’t foreseen at the time this law passed in 2006. FanDuel alone is valued at more than $1 billion and reported 1.2 million users in 2014.
And now that growth is in jeopardy. Both companies scrambled to answer questions this week about insider access to data that could easily be used to gain an advantage over the public. They even hired outside law firms to review their internal controls against fraud.
“DraftKings’ explosive growth is a testament to our ability to deepen our fans’ engagement with the sports they love,” the company said in a statement Wednesday. “We are committed to reinforcing the trust and security of our millions of loyal customers.”
A research analyst who studies the industry predicted something like this would happen at the same conference in January. Speaking about the future of daily fantasy sports, Adam Krejcik forecast that “within the next 18 months the (daily fantasy) industry will likely face one major PR fiasco.”
He said it might be a data breach, a cheating scandal or a political attack. He said then that the industry’s ability to overcome this will be key.
That could mean accepting or welcoming regulation instead of fighting it and trying to avoid it by using careful word choices, which has gotten somewhat exhausting.
At the conference in January, for example, Paul Charchian, president of the Fantasy Sports Trade Assocation, ripped fantasy companies that used the term “rake” — a word that describes how a cardroom makes money in poker. They generally “rake” around 10% of the pool, much like daily fantasy sports companies.
But Krejcik apparently didn’t get the message about what to call it. During his presentation about daily fantasy companies later that day, he said, “The operator collects a rake, and that’s more or less how they make money.”
Listening in the crowd was a FanDuel employee, who shook his head at this statement — either a mistake or a truth, depending on the viewpoint.
</section><section id="module-position-Oe7ByqR1K-s" class="storytopbar-bucket story-byline-module story-story-byline-module" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.4px;"></section>
Regulate fantasy sports games
By The Editorial Board<time itemprop="datePublished" datetime="2015-10-07 21:54" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.2px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; display: inline; color: rgb(153, 153, 153); letter-spacing: 1.52px; line-height: 25.84px; text-transform: uppercase; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">OCTOBER 07, 2015
BOSTONGLOBE.COM</time>
Now public officials are starting to pay attention, especially after it was revealed that a DraftKings employee won $350,000 playing a recent FanDuel fantasy football contest. The New York attorney general promptly launched an investigation into the matter. US Representative Frank Pallone, a New Jersey Democrat, has called for a congressional hearing on fantasy sports. “Daily fantasy sports is functioning in a Wild West void within the legal structure,” Pallone said this week. Attorney General Maura Healey had been thinking through the issue of fantasy sports after DraftKings approached her last month. Today, she announced her office will look into the episode and initiate a meeting with DraftKings and FanDuel to inquire about what consumer protections they have in place for players. On the larger question of how fantasy sports should be regulated, Healey is being more cautious. The AG wants to better understand how the industry operates before regulating via “knee-jerk reaction.” “We want to be thoughtful about this,” a spokesperson for Healey said.
The online fantasy sports industry has enjoyed an exemption from sports betting restrictions because the activity was specifically deemed as a game of skill under the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. Players — a staggering 30 million Americans — do not bet on the outcome of games, but instead on the results of the fantasy teams they assemble. Skill certainly is involved, just as it often is in traditional regulated gambling, like blackjack or horseracing. But, of course, there’s an endless amount of chance.
And fantasy sports has changed in recent years, too, in ways that increase the role of chance. When the exemption was written, many fantasy leagues were season-long affairs, making them more skills-based; daily wagers, which are much more susceptible to random day-to-day variation in a player’s performance, were less common. Daily fantasy sports is seen as particularly addictive, just like traditional regulated gambling. One possible solution requires federal action — Congress could just close the loophole, or tighten it to preclude daily fantasy sports. But fantasy sports games shouldn’t be banned — they just need regulation, as the “insider” gaming episode makes clear.
What’s more, daily fantasy sports, unchecked, will enjoy an unfair advantage over other forms of gambling, and may drain revenue from the coffers of the Lottery. That is why some lawmakers want to get the Commonwealth into the fantasy sports game. State Senator Mike Rush has introduced a bill that would allow the state lottery to launch a fantasy sports platform. “Whether fantasy sports are considered to be ‘games of skill’ as opposed to ‘games of chance’ is something the legal community should address. Whatever it is called, we know that it is a thriving, billion-dollar industry,” said Rush in a statement. “I think we should be ahead of the curve as online gaming and fantasy sports become more and more popular.”
Sure, but a regulatory framework ought to be developed first. The fantasy sports industry, as gambling, needs to be treated like other forms of gambling in which there are clear rules, and the state gets a cut.
<time itemprop="datePublished" datetime="2015-10-07 21:54" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.2px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; display: inline; color: rgb(153, 153, 153); letter-spacing: 1.52px; line-height: 25.84px; text-transform: uppercase; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">
Every day, sports fans can wager sums large and small on their personally selected online “fantasy” teams, competing against other fans for prize money. It’s a model that has catapulted Boston fantasy sports startup DraftKings to a valuation of more than $1 billion as investors, including the Kraft Group, Major League Baseball, and the National Hockey League, have poured in $375 million in capital. DraftKings and its archrival, FanDuel, have engaged in an advertising war for market share, and now it’s impossible to watch a National Football League game without seeing testimonials of players who have won big money on fantasy sports.
The ubiquitous marketing — $31 million in TV ads during the first week of the NFL season alone — has exposed the online fantasy sports business for what it really is: unregulated gambling that’s in need of greater oversight. It’s no small irony that the Commonwealth has obsessed about casinos for a decade, and yet a startup that collects fees and distributes winnings (albeit with sophisticated technology) has taken root and flourished for four years without a bit of regulatory attention.
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By The Editorial Board<time itemprop="datePublished" datetime="2015-10-07 21:54" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.2px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; display: inline; color: rgb(153, 153, 153); letter-spacing: 1.52px; line-height: 25.84px; text-transform: uppercase; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">OCTOBER 07, 2015
BOSTONGLOBE.COM</time>
Now public officials are starting to pay attention, especially after it was revealed that a DraftKings employee won $350,000 playing a recent FanDuel fantasy football contest. The New York attorney general promptly launched an investigation into the matter. US Representative Frank Pallone, a New Jersey Democrat, has called for a congressional hearing on fantasy sports. “Daily fantasy sports is functioning in a Wild West void within the legal structure,” Pallone said this week. Attorney General Maura Healey had been thinking through the issue of fantasy sports after DraftKings approached her last month. Today, she announced her office will look into the episode and initiate a meeting with DraftKings and FanDuel to inquire about what consumer protections they have in place for players. On the larger question of how fantasy sports should be regulated, Healey is being more cautious. The AG wants to better understand how the industry operates before regulating via “knee-jerk reaction.” “We want to be thoughtful about this,” a spokesperson for Healey said.
The online fantasy sports industry has enjoyed an exemption from sports betting restrictions because the activity was specifically deemed as a game of skill under the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. Players — a staggering 30 million Americans — do not bet on the outcome of games, but instead on the results of the fantasy teams they assemble. Skill certainly is involved, just as it often is in traditional regulated gambling, like blackjack or horseracing. But, of course, there’s an endless amount of chance.
And fantasy sports has changed in recent years, too, in ways that increase the role of chance. When the exemption was written, many fantasy leagues were season-long affairs, making them more skills-based; daily wagers, which are much more susceptible to random day-to-day variation in a player’s performance, were less common. Daily fantasy sports is seen as particularly addictive, just like traditional regulated gambling. One possible solution requires federal action — Congress could just close the loophole, or tighten it to preclude daily fantasy sports. But fantasy sports games shouldn’t be banned — they just need regulation, as the “insider” gaming episode makes clear.
What’s more, daily fantasy sports, unchecked, will enjoy an unfair advantage over other forms of gambling, and may drain revenue from the coffers of the Lottery. That is why some lawmakers want to get the Commonwealth into the fantasy sports game. State Senator Mike Rush has introduced a bill that would allow the state lottery to launch a fantasy sports platform. “Whether fantasy sports are considered to be ‘games of skill’ as opposed to ‘games of chance’ is something the legal community should address. Whatever it is called, we know that it is a thriving, billion-dollar industry,” said Rush in a statement. “I think we should be ahead of the curve as online gaming and fantasy sports become more and more popular.”
Sure, but a regulatory framework ought to be developed first. The fantasy sports industry, as gambling, needs to be treated like other forms of gambling in which there are clear rules, and the state gets a cut.
<time itemprop="datePublished" datetime="2015-10-07 21:54" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.2px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; display: inline; color: rgb(153, 153, 153); letter-spacing: 1.52px; line-height: 25.84px; text-transform: uppercase; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">
Every day, sports fans can wager sums large and small on their personally selected online “fantasy” teams, competing against other fans for prize money. It’s a model that has catapulted Boston fantasy sports startup DraftKings to a valuation of more than $1 billion as investors, including the Kraft Group, Major League Baseball, and the National Hockey League, have poured in $375 million in capital. DraftKings and its archrival, FanDuel, have engaged in an advertising war for market share, and now it’s impossible to watch a National Football League game without seeing testimonials of players who have won big money on fantasy sports.
The ubiquitous marketing — $31 million in TV ads during the first week of the NFL season alone — has exposed the online fantasy sports business for what it really is: unregulated gambling that’s in need of greater oversight. It’s no small irony that the Commonwealth has obsessed about casinos for a decade, and yet a startup that collects fees and distributes winnings (albeit with sophisticated technology) has taken root and flourished for four years without a bit of regulatory attention.
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and we're off ....
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/5616da63e4b0e66ad4c71e4e?yrvpwrk9
The scandal that has engulfed the daily fantasy sites DraftKings and FanDuel could now head to federal court.
A Kentucky man on Thursday filed a class-action lawsuit against the companies, which run the two biggest websites in the growing daily fantasy industry. First reported by the New York Daily News, the suit alleges that DraftKings and FanDuel violated fraud, negligence and consumer protection laws by allowing employees to access certain information while also participating in daily fantasy contests.
The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, seeks damages determined in a jury trial. In addition to alleging fraud and negligence, it claims DraftKings, which operates out of New York City, and FanDuel violated New York false advertising and deceptive practices laws and Kentucky consumer protection laws.
The plaintiff, Adam Johnson of Louisville, Kentucky, deposited "at least $100" into a DraftKings account, according to the suit. The complaint asserts that Johnson would not have participated in the contests had he known that each of the companies was allowing its employees to participate in daily fantasy games on the other's website.
