Interesting article re fantasy sports/law

[Fourslot40]

I played in daily games when they first started several years ago. The growth of these leagues has been impressive, yet concerning. I'll always be a season long guy, but the daily game is great for a quick hit or something to provide extra action on days that you can enjoy watching games. Any Joe can see the points per game, look up bat vs. pitch stats and see that injury label. It's easy to put together a formidable lineup for a night. Its a game where you can go wrong by having Puig, Cano and Cabrera in your lineup because they went o-fer. I laughed one day as I listened to the fantasy drive on the way home and they said not to start Cano or Granderson against Price because of their poor history against him. It would be obvious not to start lefties against a tough lefty. They both homered and had big nights. I've seen first time players win huge tournaments by stacking lineups. There is not much skill in that. Anything can happen in one night. Throw on top of that the quick payouts and you now have the offshore feel. Except the offshore would hold your money hostage of course

[Diesel]

Gotchya.

I really don't care for the daily games much, but I couldn't pass up the NFFC's offer this year with fanduel...It's so easy to see how they make money with these sites. It's ONLY $1 a game....lol...As soon as I start these games, I end up going back and forth, and joining more and more as I see "deals" on their salary cap lists. Fantasy crack.

[Greg Ambrosius]

I have some concern that the aggressive advertising of daily fantasy games is going to arouse unwanted scrutiny from regulator-types. I thought this article (and particularly the lengthy linked Harvard Law Journal article) on the legality of fantasy sports was very interesting.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/marcedelman ... for-money/

Our Lady of Victory pray for us!

Marc Edelman has written a lot of positive stories on the growth of the fantasy sports industry, so it was interesting that he chose the legality issue to write about before this season's NFL opener. There hasn't been a single legislator questioning this space, so it's interesting that a writer would bring it up.

Anyway, as a member of the Fantasy Sports Trade Association's board of directors, I can tell you that one of our top priorities is reaching out to the 6 states that are exempted by some fantasy game operators (including the NFFC) to see if we can get them to understand the industry better. Maryland was a perfect example of where a state legislator brought up a bill that formally said what is needed to allow state residents to play fantasy sports for prize money and the bill was overwhelmingly passed. We have reached out to an Iowa legislator recently who is interested in doing the same thing in that state and hopefully we'll get something enacted there. States like Washington, Arizona and Louisiana will be much harder, but each of them have NFL teams and to think that their state residents AREN'T PLAYING fantasy football in pay leagues is just ludicrous. There's no reason why those states couldn't understand the industry better and write carveout language in their gambling bills to include season-long pay-to-play fantasy games.

As for the legality of season-long fantasy games, we are very fortunate to have carveout language in the 2006 Unlawful Anti-Internet Gambling bill that specifically spells out what you need to do to run a legal fantasy pay-to-play contest. The NFLPA was very helpful in getting this carveout language in this bill and it totally legalizes what we are doing.

Because of the length of the contests, the daily games have always walked that finer line, but the growth of that space is mind boggling. When two companies alone are advertising that they will give out a combined $200 million-plus in prize money this year that will draw attention. It's inevitable.

And I wish Chad and all players who transition more to the daily games best of luck if that's the route they go. Heck, it's a business for some owners and you have to go where the money lies. It seems like the big money season-long games would prepare you for any daily game, but you never know. Either way, you can't fault anyone for finding the best ROI, the best format to win from, the most enjoyable format (if that's even a worthy consideration anymore) or the best players to compete with. Everyone has their own reasons to play where they want and we fully support those decisions. Good luck all.

Now, let's get these last 6 states to understand that this is a growing business that needs the support of all 50 states, not just 44.