Business model of daily fantasy sports under federal probe: WSJ

Reuters ^ | 10/15 | Reuters

[TangledUpInBlue]

The U.S. Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are looking into the business model of daily fantasy sports operators and trying to determine whether they violate federal laws, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The probe is at a preliminary stage and no decision has been reached. The Justice Department is trying to ascertain if daily fantasy games are a form of gambling that are outside the purview of the exemption, the newspaper reported.

[TangledUpInBlue]

Ruh roh

[butlerweave]

Obama never wins so he must have his people Investigate

[headstamp 2]

its all over but the cryin’

the feds want their cut.

[cicero2k]

Looks like big casino gambling made a few phone calls.

[mmichaels1970]

the feds want their cut.

Agreed. I knew when the companies started their current non-stop media advertising blitz that it was only a matter of time. I think if they would have continued to sort of lay low they might have been fine for a while longer.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Bet the FBI has more people assigned to this than to Hillary’s server.

[Yo-Yo]

Hey, you start advertising $2 million payouts, you’re going to attract the wrong sort of attention.

[RinaseaofDs]

If it succeeds, regulate it.
If it survives, tax it.
If it falters, subsidize it.

I think that’s how Reagan put it. It’s something like that.

[showme_the_Glory]

This is BS. Thhey need to stay out of it. At least until the season is over. ......I’m winning in my league.

[RIghtwardHo]

Exactly.

[TangledUpInBlue]

I haven’t checked how these sites work - but I’ve always understood Fantasy Sports to have success be somewhat dependent upon the players skill: Maximizing dollars during a draft, selecting who to play, gauging matchups, reading injury reports.

In other words, it’s simply not a “game of chance” which is the definition of pure gambling.

[circlecity]

"Fantasy Sports to have success be somewhat dependent upon the players skill: Maximizing dollars during a draft, selecting who to play, gauging matchups, reading injury reports."

One could persuasively argue that all those "skills" are utilized in any sports gambling.

[mmichaels1970]

One could persuasively argue that all those "skills" are utilized in any sports gambling.

Agreed. IMHO fantasy sports sites are certainly not a "game of chance". People put in hours of research and analysis to play. If it were a game of chance, you wouldn't have people that were good at it. Any idiot could log on and have the same odds of winning as another.

I'd guess that if you consider normal sports betting, you might be able to argue that the introduction of a "point spread" to sort of even out the odds between winners might make sports betting more of a game of chance. I mean ideally, when Vegas sets a point spread, they are attempting to make the odds 50-50 so that players on both sides have a similar chance of winning. Then if they take bets from players who gamble on picking TWO winners (and so on), the odds decrease. In any case, sports betting comes with fairly quantifiable odds.

Of course you then introduce that array of statistical models that players use to try to beat the point spread and you do start wading into the skill area. People with massive databases of point spread results for teams going back for years, teams that do better in night games, nationally televised, and such. I can definitely see an argument.

In contrast, I don't think a fantasy league could come up with odds because your chance of winning is really determined by your skill in picking (with a little luck regarding injury etc) and how many morons you're playing against.

[circlecity]

"I mean ideally, when Vegas sets a point spread, they are attempting to make the odds 50-50 so that players on both sides have a similar chance of winning. Then if they take bets from players who gamble on picking TWO winners (and so on), the odds decrease. In any case, sports betting comes with fairly quantifiable odds."

Not really. A point spread is calculated with one purpose in mind - to generate an equal amount of bets on each side. Bookies make their money on the "juice" - the fee you pay for making the bet if you win. Bookies could care less about who wins or by how much - they just don't want to get burned by lopsided action on the eventual winner. This is why you see the spread shift if too much action is going to one side or the other - they shift the spread to generate more action on the other side of the bet.

[C19fan]

Most table games and poker are not 100% “game(s) of chance”. If you think about say blackjack there are optimal plays depending on the cards being shown. From my limited knowledge of these sites, players are assigned values so obviously Aaron Rogers is a lot more expensive than say Brandon Wheedon. The question is do these valuation take away all of the advantages from researching, i.e., taking a random sample of players until you meet the budget does as well as someone who spends a lot of time researching.

[jjotto]

They are not targeting season-long leagues, if I understand correctly.

The target is one-week leagues. Stats for a single week are indeed mostly random, like buying numbers that will match the final digits of the actual scores.

[showme_the_Glory]

I haven’t tried a weekly. I play for free in a family only league. Bragging rights only.