Daily Fantasy Sports has exploded in popularity over the past couple of years due to a lack of regulation, a fervent desire for people to gamble, it’s turned regular people into millionaires, DFS is touted as a game of skill and it’s presence seen and felt all over the sports networks, so much so that it has politicians and anti-gambling nuts up in arms calling for bans. DFS meteoric rise and its lack of regulation could force the US government to enact some sort of limits or ban that could crush the burgeoning industry.
Does this sound familiar? If you’re an online poker player, it should.
The similarities between the rise of online poker and the dally fantasy sports industry is eerie. Both are clearly gambling, both are touted as games of skill rather than luck and both piss off the powers that be who would rather have a say on how allegedly free Americans can spend their entertainment dollars.
When the US Government passed the Unlawful Government Enforcement Act back in 2006, there were carve outs for both horseracing and fantasy sports but it’s clear the politicos didn’t realize that fantasy sports would evolve so much to allow gamblers a daily fix of what is essentially sports betting.