Gambling reincarnation: a fantasy sports industry that gained billions of dollars attracted the attention of the FBI
Fantasy sport is an online game in which participants make up a team of real players of a particular championship. According to the results of the championship games, participants receive points. True, fans of fantasy sports not only get points, but win the corresponding amount of money. This game is very popular in the USA and Canada, where billions of dollars are spinning in the industry.
Many years ago, fantasy sports was harmless entertainment: fans competed with each other and counted points at the end of the season. The main interest is to correctly predict the results of real athletes: at the right moment to “release” those athletes whose game goes uphill, and to put in a reserve those who play poorly. There are fantasy tournaments for all popular sports: you can assemble your team, which is football, hockey, basketball, baseball.
Today, fantasy sports is not just a game for friends, it is a billion-dollar industry. Major players in this market now offer games not only for the whole season, but weekly tournaments and even daily ones. Each player pays a certain amount for entry and depending on the type of tournament can win up to several million dollars.
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According to Eilers Research, players spend $ 2.6 billion a year on entering such tournaments.
As users grow more interested in fantasy sports, the authorities have more and more questions. The activities of the organizers of the fantasy league companies are interested in the FBI and the US Department of Justice, reports The Wall Street Journal. Authorities will find out how their activities comply with federal laws.
In 2006, a law was passed to ban online gambling . For fantasy sports, an exception was made - at that time it was a very harmless scale, and there were simply no daily tournaments more like casinos or sports betting (opposed to sports federations).
Therefore, so far this industry is not regulated by the authorities. Now the market of fantasy sports are two of the largest companies - FanDuel and DraftKings .
In early October, a scandal erupted in fantasy sports. According to analysts, this could be a turning point in the development of the industry. By chance, DraftKings employee Itan Haskell prematurely posted on the company's blog the data on which players were most often put in their lineups. Usually this information is not published before all the teams of the National Football League announce the composition.
A bit later, Ethan Haskel won $ 350,000 on FanDuel. According to lawyer Daniel Walloch, the situation is very similar to insider trading when one player in the market knows more than another. In DraftKings claim that Haskell did not use sensitive information for the game.
As it turned out, the staff of both sites often play on each other's sites. After the scandal with a big win, the company temporarily banned employees from playing fantasy sports.
After the scandal, the authorities' attention to the fantasy sports industry has increased. The question of whether their activities equate to gambling remains an open question. FanDuel and DraftKings explain that users do not just bet "on luck" - they analyze the game in the championships, the performance of athletes, game statistics. All this requires certain skills. And the development of these skills will determine the cash gain - even in a weekly or daily tournament.
Despite the controversial reputation of fantasy sports, despite the fact that it is still “outlawed,” the fantasy sports industry is developing rapidly. FanDuel and DraftKings have attracted hundreds of millions of dollars in investment.
This year, the company will pay about $ 1 billion in prize money to users, participants of fantasy tournaments.
The DraftKings investor is Fox Channel and the national sports leagues.
This week, FanDuel hit the ranking of the most expensive startups in New York, ranking 7th. In July, FanDuel raised $ 275 million in the E-series from KKR , Comcast Ventures , Google Capital and Time Warner Investments .
In November, AirBall will launch a baseball games analysis service for fantasy players. The service will use an IBM Watson supercomputer for analysis. The service will collect and process statistics of baseball games and athletes from the site http://www.baseball-reference.com . After that, users will receive a forecast of further games and athletes results.
The industry is becoming increasingly attractive for partners from related areas. We can say that a full-fledged fantasy sports market is being formed.
Many years ago, fantasy sports was harmless entertainment: fans competed with each other and counted points at the end of the season. The main interest is to correctly predict the results of real athletes: at the right moment to “release” those athletes whose game goes uphill, and to put in a reserve those who play poorly. There are fantasy tournaments for all popular sports: you can assemble your team, which is football, hockey, basketball, baseball.
Today, fantasy sports is not just a game for friends, it is a billion-dollar industry. Major players in this market now offer games not only for the whole season, but weekly tournaments and even daily ones. Each player pays a certain amount for entry and depending on the type of tournament can win up to several million dollars.
')
According to Eilers Research, players spend $ 2.6 billion a year on entering such tournaments.
As users grow more interested in fantasy sports, the authorities have more and more questions. The activities of the organizers of the fantasy league companies are interested in the FBI and the US Department of Justice, reports The Wall Street Journal. Authorities will find out how their activities comply with federal laws.
In 2006, a law was passed to ban online gambling . For fantasy sports, an exception was made - at that time it was a very harmless scale, and there were simply no daily tournaments more like casinos or sports betting (opposed to sports federations).
Therefore, so far this industry is not regulated by the authorities. Now the market of fantasy sports are two of the largest companies - FanDuel and DraftKings .
In early October, a scandal erupted in fantasy sports. According to analysts, this could be a turning point in the development of the industry. By chance, DraftKings employee Itan Haskell prematurely posted on the company's blog the data on which players were most often put in their lineups. Usually this information is not published before all the teams of the National Football League announce the composition.
A bit later, Ethan Haskel won $ 350,000 on FanDuel. According to lawyer Daniel Walloch, the situation is very similar to insider trading when one player in the market knows more than another. In DraftKings claim that Haskell did not use sensitive information for the game.
As it turned out, the staff of both sites often play on each other's sites. After the scandal with a big win, the company temporarily banned employees from playing fantasy sports.
After the scandal, the authorities' attention to the fantasy sports industry has increased. The question of whether their activities equate to gambling remains an open question. FanDuel and DraftKings explain that users do not just bet "on luck" - they analyze the game in the championships, the performance of athletes, game statistics. All this requires certain skills. And the development of these skills will determine the cash gain - even in a weekly or daily tournament.
Despite the controversial reputation of fantasy sports, despite the fact that it is still “outlawed,” the fantasy sports industry is developing rapidly. FanDuel and DraftKings have attracted hundreds of millions of dollars in investment.
This year, the company will pay about $ 1 billion in prize money to users, participants of fantasy tournaments.
The DraftKings investor is Fox Channel and the national sports leagues.
This week, FanDuel hit the ranking of the most expensive startups in New York, ranking 7th. In July, FanDuel raised $ 275 million in the E-series from KKR , Comcast Ventures , Google Capital and Time Warner Investments .
In November, AirBall will launch a baseball games analysis service for fantasy players. The service will use an IBM Watson supercomputer for analysis. The service will collect and process statistics of baseball games and athletes from the site http://www.baseball-reference.com . After that, users will receive a forecast of further games and athletes results.
The industry is becoming increasingly attractive for partners from related areas. We can say that a full-fledged fantasy sports market is being formed.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/295428/
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