The Real Problem with Daily Fantasy Sports is not a Legal Question

Daily fantasy sports are just bad and they shouldn’t be around. I have a serious problem with daily fantasy sports, and I am not alone. Opinion.

• DFS distorts the way sports should have been interpreted
• Fantasy players are wrong
• Fantasy sports encourage players to be selfish

There are more and more concerns with daily fantasy sports (DFS) sites these days. Many didn’t even know that they existed until the 2015 NFL season kicked off and DFS sites started aggressive campaigns. And there weren’t many legal concerns around them, until a DraftKing employee had early access to confidential data and ended up collecting some $350,000 fantasy sports winnings at FanDuel.

However the main problem is not the question if daily fantasy sports are legal or not. Not even its similarity to internet betting. Now people will also start stressing that DFS is virtually a gateway to online gambling and therefore it should be banned. But the real problem with daily fantasy sports and fantasy football is different. The real problem with daily fantasy sports is that they distort the way team sports, especially ball games should be observed, interpreted and evaluated. The DFS sites ruin the experience of sports fans – even without them realizing it.

(OK, with the potential exception of baseball, there even team results make sense to be broken down and looked at individually. Besides, baseball fans have been keeping busy with data sheets for decades anyway, even dry statistics are light entertainment compared to ball after ball then walk. We give you baseball)

The real problem with daily fantasy sports is not connected to online gambling

In daily fantasy sports, individual statistics contribute to the success of your fantasy sites. Therefore the sports fans who play fantasy football or other daily fantasy sports tend to concentrate only on individual achievements. When you’re watching football on Sunday afternoons together with your buddies, it can really undermine the collective experience if one or two or all of your friends are on their gadgets all the time or hanging on the info bar and screaming ‘Yes!’ when some player scores a TD in some rather irrelevant game.

Okay, be it. Play fantasy sports. But check the result the other day. For Christ’s sake, your team is fighting for overtime against their fiercest rivals and you are jumping up from you’re seat because Andre Johnson scored a touchdown in garbage time? With his team losing 45-17? Because he starts at wide receiver in your 3rd fantasy team and know you are ahead? Come on! Seriously?

Fantasy players think they know the game

Fantasy players are quick to judge a player by his numbers. ‘This guy has a poor year,’ or ‘That guy had a slow start to the season’. Oh, yes? The reality is that these individuals are actually pro athletes, not daily fantasy players. They have responsibilities, they have a coaching staff and a play-caller. And sometimes it happens that they are utilized in a system or in a role that doesn’t concentrate on stacking up individual numbers.

‘This running back is useless, forget him!’ Yes, maybe from a fantasy point of view, but instead of running he might be an excellent pass protector and a great contributor to a championship-winning side. The more you know about sports, the more interested you are in unsung heroes. A big problem with daily fantasy sports is that they don’t know the idea of the unsung hero. They just go with the mainstream and in fact they don’t recognize that there is something else outside the mainstream. But there is a lot. And it’s a shame that this approach spreads amongst daily fantasy players.

Moreover, amongst the athletes too. ‘Hey, coach, my fantasy players complaining, I want to see more of the ball!’ This is absurd, but it does happen. In a world when players start to dictate already, when they go on a holdout to force out a couple of more dozens of millions of dollars, those who don’t know where exactly their place is, start to question their coaches just because players of daily fantasy sports ask for more yards. DFS players feel that they were let down by their starting running back, because he didn’t run 100 yards.

Selfish athletes becoming even more selfish

He didn’t even make 25, but his team won and he made key blocks in the game winning drive. He even got the match ball from the head coach. But DFS players are still complaining, because, according to the numbers, he had a poor game. Though major leagues have a serious personality cult problem already, ball games are still team sports, where the team’s interest is way above the individual interest of its members. It doesn’t mean that it isn’t a silly thing not to utilize the skills of a key player, but there are certain games and certain competitions when a team member is more useful helping the others than helping himself.

Do you have friends in need of intervention?

A real problem with daily fantasy sports is that it projects a world of sports where individual goals are above the team’s achievement. And I don’t want to translate this to real life or politics, because then I would see a world that I wouldn’t want to live in. It is quite a problem itself. And if we have a look at the hypocritical establishment of the NFL that proudly presents its role models while fighting against bet on sports in the US, meanwhile tolerating daily fantasy sports, where sports fans competing for money… Oh, boy, what a mess!

So, if you are a fan of sports and/or a real punter, I’d rather recommend you to pick a legal US online sportsbooks in a state where US gambling laws allow internet betting, and place a wager instead of screwing around with fantasy sites. If you are a fan of sports, enjoy the game or even study the game, but don’t play fantasy football because that will ruin your pleasure. Or some other guy’s pleasure at the table. Don’t look at me, look at that one-handed catch instead!