By Ethan Moore, Sports Reporter.
If you’ve been anywhere near a TV set over the past six months than you’ve most likely seen an advertisement for either FanDuel or DraftKings. These websites are promoting the newest addition to the fantasy sports world: daily fantasy sports leagues.
Fantasy sports are often seen as that weird game that people play at work so they can have something else to do or talk about besides their actual job. The concept is that you pick players in whatever sport you’re following, then the players field performance determines your success. Normally these leagues are done in a year-long fashion and you’re in charge of regulating your team throughout the season– eventually collecting what money was pooled together at the end of the year if you win the entire season.
Jeff Karaba, a student at Delta College, enjoys playing daily fantasy as an alternative to traditional fantasy platforms.
“I think it is extremely fun to try and look at match ups and guess who will do good that week,”says Karaba, “Another factor is the chance to win huge amounts of money on such small bets.”
Daily fantasy sports have drastically changed the landscape of traditional fantasy leagues, as they are now allowing fans to commit to shorter lengths of time. They can pick a team that can last as long as a week, or as short as a night–starting all over again the next day. This allows for a greater volume of playing, especially for people who may have picked a bad team. However, this also allows for a quicker exchange of money, which has caused companies like FanDuel and DraftKings to find themselves in hot water with local governments.
On Nov. 10, the New York attorney general ordered FanDuel and DraftKings to no longer accept money from players in the state of New York, citing that daily fantasy sports are gambling and not“games of skill” like the corporations’ claim. Both companies are currently fighting this decision in New York court rooms, but the ruling does raise an interesting question: what is the chance that you’ll win money on the sites?
Recently, Ed Miller, who is an independent games consultant for Sports Business Daily, published a dataset showing how the top 1.3 percent of people who play daily fantasy sports are the ones receiving most of the revenue from the monetary contests.
This 1.3 percent generates roughly a 27 percent return on investments, which means if they were to put in $200, they would win back approximately $254 in revenue. Now compare this with the roughly80 percent of players who would be considered casual players, and who don’t bet egregious amounts of money. Those players statistically lose about $25 for for every $49 they put into the site.
Similar to how online poker was set up (before it was ruled illegal gambling and was banned in most states) the majority of revenue is gained by the top percentage of people who have lots of experience– or algorithms that aid them in picking their teams.
Even Karaba admits that it’s tough to win as a casual player.
“I have been playing FanDuel for about three months now,” explains Karaba. “I haven’t really been successful, so I don’t bet a lot.”
This, coupled with the fact that New York Daily news reports state employees of FanDuel and DraftKings have been winning upward of $350,000 on rival sites, is concerning for casual player looking to have fun and maybe make a quick buck.
Currently in Michigan, you are still allowed to freely play daily fantasy sports with no sort of regulation in place. These kinds of conditions can set up dangerous circumstances for people who don’t fully understand the risks of betting money, especially in cases where the chances of them winning is very slim.
People who don’t believe that daily fantasy is gambling can get caught up in the excitement of the games, which can lead to many of the same health and life problems similar to normal gambling addiction. According to Rehab International’s gambling rehab guide, some of the risks include: increased stress, heart problems, relational issues and financial instability.
If you or anyone you know plays daily fantasy, make sure they are doing so responsibly and in a self-regulated manner.