It is impossible to watch a sports event these days without being inundated with advertisements for the cousin fantasy sports companies DraftKings and FanDuel. As many would agree on Sunday Night Football during commercial airings you were probably flooded with advertisements for DraftKings and FanDuel. According to Drake Baer, an editor at Tech Insider, said that each have spent an estimated of $10 million on TV advertising. The company, which is valued at more than $1 billion and has the financial backing of Major League Baseball and the N.F.L. owners Robert K. Kraft of the Patriots and Jerry Jones of the Cowboys, allowed contest entries for the postseason baseball games and N.F.L games.

        Sports betting to a certain degree have taken the life of sports and put a whole new twist on it.  Prior to betting on sports when our favorite teams have won the Super Bowl, World Series, or the World Cup, we feel pride and prestige over the opponents. We used to be on the edge of our seats hoping for our team to break through and win the game. However, when you factor in something called money/betting into the game, a whole new light has emerged, where only the excitement of the game comes when you won thousands of dollars.

        In addition, internet betting has some negatives according to Jeff Ma, ESPN staff writer: “1) game fixing where the government can’t track the amount of money that are pooled and increase the chances of winning, 2) it will definitely decrease the revenue of betting in Las Vegas, perfect example is Atlantic City and how it went through foreclosure and bankruptcy when the tri-state area legalized betting on the internet, 3) it will undoubtedly create bad gambling habits.”  

        While online gambling is illegal in most US states, fantasy sports are legal because they’re games of “skill” instead of “luck,” per a 2006 federal law. In states like Nevada and New Jersey, want a hearing to reconsider the relationship between fantasy sports and gambling. Consequently, they want all fantasy sports to shut down. In addition, the FBI have started an investigation on the illegal gambling and the use of the Internet which risks thousands of dollars daily on sports without the legally mandated safeguards that casinos and regulated sports books must follow.

According to Tech Insiders, “Fantasy football has been infiltrated by a ‘shark and fish’ system that crushes most people’s chances.” The mass majority of people who are actively playing are considered “fish” where they play and loss in most games. According to a survey constructed by Eilers Research, more than 70% of fantasy sports players report losing money. These players, “fish,” loss due to the presence of more advance players-“sharks,” who feed on their losses. Only 1.3% of players have actually won millions of dollars. As you can see there is definitely an unbalanced dynamic where fantasy sports like DraftKings and FanDuel is such a game of skill that the best players dominate over everybody else.