Sports gambling before Fantasy Football

Delaware, Nevada, Oregon, and Montana are the only four states in America which have state laws regulating sports betting, according to Chad Millman of ESPN.

Chad Millman's Sports Betting Story

In 1992, a national law was passed, outlawing sports betting.  The law was given a generic title, the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act.  This Act specifically prohibited bookmaker, which should not be confused with bookkeeping.

Bookmakers, "bookies," as they're often called, manage numerous bets.  These bets are normally based on sporting events but a lot of people can even find bookies to bet on Oscar and Emmy Award winners.  Bookies have to seek out a multitude of participants in order to balance out their bets and make money.

These bets normally deal with "odds," or chances for a certain team or player to accomplish a said goal.  Commonly, one would place a bet on a team to emerge victorious and bookies lure people into betting on the less-favorable team, the "underdog," to win the game against the favorite.

Another common form of gambling deals with what people refer to as "sports cards."  They're not actually cards - a lot of times they're printed on the same material used for sales receipts.  Participants would pick 'x' amount of teams to win each week and the more teams a person bets on to win, the more money they would receive.  Here's the catch, though:  if a participant bet on the favored team, that team would have to win by a certain amount of points, they would have to "cover the spread."

For example, when the Buffalo Bills played the Pittsburgh Steeler two weeks ago, the Bills were actually favored to defeat the Steelers.  Their "spread" was calculated by the bookie at a value of -3, which means 3 points are deducted from Buffalo's final score and if they still had a higher score than Pittsburgh afterward, Buffalo will have been a winning bet.  Another catch is that if the final score ends up tying, (if Buffalo won by exactly 3 points) then the result will have been considered a tie and I wouldn't have been paid because ties result in a lost bet.  Furthermore, if I were to bet on the underdog, that team simply needed to win in regulation - most bookies don't include overtime.

All in all, sports gambling was a lot more complex before the creation of Fantasy Sports.  It is also a lot easier to control your odds of winning with Fantasy Sports because participants literally "draft" players for their team.  So, if someone were to have done multiple hours of research and studied a variety of different pre-season and off-season progress of certain players - that participant would have a much better chance at winning.

There are no odds.  There are no loopholes for bookies to hide behind.  There is a clear-cut way of winning and that is to make the Fantasy Sports playoffs and emerge victorious over your opponent for that particular week.

Status in Society

Every society has some type of social structure.  For example, in American society, our social structure is highly based on economics because everything revolves around money in America.  Everything.  This could potentially be one reason gambling is so prevalent with lower-income individuals - they want to advance within the social hierarchy.  Fantasy Football even creates a social structure within certain groups of friends.

My team, "Rally the Wagons," is doing fairly well in my all-family Fantasy Football league.  I'm 9-1 with that one loss being a result of players severely under-performing for that particular week - I'm looking at you, A.J. Green!

I'm really tearing things up and as a result, I've found more family members asking me for advice.  I didn't think of it much, at first, but it got a little crazy when we started discussing the payouts for the League.

Normally, the payouts should have been set out before the actual draft at my grandmother's house.  Unfortunately, that didn't happen since half the League showed up an hour late.  We were all pressed for time and went straight into the draft without discussing payouts.

I am the second-youngest participant in the League and normally, in my family, we ask the older guys for their input.  Some of my uncles are upwards of 50 years (young!) and have dealt with this Fantasy League well before I joined.  Yet, my opinion is constantly being asked for and I wondered why.

So, I asked my cousin who just recently celebrated his 30th birthday why he cared what I thought.  He replied, "You're nine-and-one, so you're like Jesus, right now."  He jokes around a lot - my family doesn't consider my opinion to be the word of God - it's a clear hyperbole.  The fact is, simply because I'm doing well in Fantasy Football, my opinion matters more.

Uncle Ken, the senior member of the League who serves as the Commissioner, actually wanted my opinion on the payouts.  (In return for some friendly advice on WR options on free agency)  Uncle Ken sits at 3-7.

So, naturally, I advocated that the team with the best regular season finish should receive $20 - the initial entry fee into the League - and that this should continue for as long as the League exists.  It serves my best interest, right now, plus it's just unfair that someone could do so well and not at the very least be rewarded with, essentially free entry into next year's League.  Furthermore, it's possible to be knocked out after the first week bye in the playoff tournament simply because your players had an off week.  It makes sense, right?

Another thing to think about... if I wasn't doing so well, would my opinion be as valued as it currently is?  This is basically how news outlets function in society.  The people at the top make the decisions based on their values.  The executives make the decisions - they decide the payout, the rules, who is allowed in... much like a Fantasy Football League is run.  Fantasy Football is a perfect example of a corporation within American society.

ESPN - Kings of Marketing

What do Americans care more about than anything else regarding the media?  No, it's not the future of their country.  No, it's not breaking news in their local communities.  Their top concern regarding the media lies within the world of sports.

Sports media networks such as ESPN thrive on supplying news regarding this hot topic in American society better than anyone else.  It's the most popular sports site in America and anyone who has ever looked at the site would understand why - there are articles and updates about nearly every single player on every single sports team in professional sports.

http://espn.go.com/

ESPN also generated a lot of traffic to their site with the creation of "Fantasy Sports."  Fantasy Football is the most commonly played Fantasy sport on the site.  The initial creation and coding of Fantasy Football most likely took a lot of work, costing a decent bit of money.  The game was a huge hit and drew in a large following, allowing ESPN to charge internet advertisers more considering more people would see ads on the site.

ESPN has made it easy for newcomers to get involved, as well, providing a variety of "Beginner's Videos" hosted by ESPN Fantasy Footbal analyst, Matthew Berry.

http://games.espn.go.com/ffl/resources/help/content?name=introduction-videos

Fantasy Sports has become so popular, entire sections for "Fantasy-related News" were constructed and placed on ESPN's website.

http://games.espn.go.com/frontpage/

People are so involved with Fantasy sports and so competitive, everyone wants an edge over their opponent.  As stated in a previous post, Fantasy sports has become a huge game of sports gambling.  Everyone wants to win because most leagues have some kind of entry fee with payouts going to the top players at the end of the season and playoffs.

People are so determined to win, ESPN has even created "insider," a subscription-based guide to Fantasy sports.  One can purchase "insider" by paying a membership fee, giving them a free subscription to ESPN magazine as well as, exclusive Fantasy tips and tricks.

http://insider.espn.go.com/insider/benefits

As a recap, ESPN tailored their news to cover a high-demand area, sports entertainment.  They created a webpage, generating tons of internet traffic, allowing them to generate a higher profit from internet advertisers.  In order to increase this traffic even more, ESPN created Fantasy Sports, which exploded and became a large part of sports gambling.  Understanding people's desire to win, ESPN began providing "expert analysis" on a subscription-based method of payment.

ESPN tailored their product, sports news, to capitalize on a demand for sports news.  ESPN generated internet traffic, generating revenue from internet advertisers.  ESPN amplified those profits with the creation of Fantasy sports and even took that further by creating a "members club," providing the best news for those who pay extra.  Checkmate.  Well played, ESPN.  Well played.

Sports Gambling Takes a Different Form

Gambling is a staple in American society.  Casinos are springing up left and right with certain casinos managed by Native Americans being given tax deductions.  Local news programs are filled with numerous different lottery drawings.  Facebook has numerous simulated gambling games, like Texas Hold 'em Poker.

One of the largest sports networks, ESPN, produces a variety of Fantasy Sports games.  People bet on these all the time.  Sirius XM radio has an entire station dedicated solely to Fantasy Football, with guest appearances made by Maurice Jones-Drew, a running back for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Other professionalo athletes and celebrities also make appearances on various different programs.  That list can be found here:  Sirius XM Radio "Fantasy Sports All-Stars"

As with many other groups of friends in our society today, I participate in a few different Fantasy Sports leagues.  I have a family Fantasy Football league on Yahoo! (currently ranked #1 at 7-1) I also participate in a Fantasy Football league with my friends.  (6-2 and tied for 1st in my division)  Fantasy Basketball has also just recently started, along with the actual NBA season.

The amount of money spent on these Fantasy sports leagues is astounding.  I've personally known family and friends participating in leagues with an entry-fee of $200.  Funnily enough, it's illegal to bet on professional sports except for the few businesses in Las Vegas which are legal for some reason.  Yet one of the rapidly-growing outlets for sports gambling remains completely unchecked and is even advertised by the NFL and media outlets like CBS, who each have their own Fantasy Sports sites.

Draft Day

     Fantasy Football has become a large part of the sports world over the past few years.  ESPN even has dedicated writers with the sole purpose of analyzing football players, regarding their potential to earn fantasy points.  Fantasy Football has become such a fierce competition for a lot of us.  It's almost at the point where it becomes more like a job instead of simply playing it for fun.
     I've found myself in the same situation.  I've spent quite a few hours before my family's annual Draft Day party looking over Fantasy Football magazines and comparing stats on ESPN and Yahoo! that I barely noticed the fact my father, John, was participating in this year's draft.
     My father's never done a Fantasy Draft in his life but he noticed how "fun" it seemed.  So, he decided to give it a try this year.  So, for the next 12-13 weeks, I'm going to monitor his progress and see if religiously worshipping the Fantasy Sports media actually makes his team better.  I'll also see if it makes his experience enjoyable and by the end of the season, we
ll find out if this amateur really is having "fun."

 

Draft Day

     Our league has used Yahoo! for our Fantasy Football since the league began way back when LaDainian Tomlinson was an automatic 1st overall pick, so this league's been around for a few years.  Anyway, when compared to the top outlet for Fantasy Football, ESPN, Yahoo! typically awards a lot more points to players, especially Quarterbacks.  Upon hearing this tid-bit of information, John decides to draft a Quarterback with the third-overall pick.

     This kind of thing has been done before in years past, so it's not exactly a bad move.  Adrian Peterson and LeSean McCoy were already picked but there were still great options for the Runningback position available:  Ray Rice, C.J. Spiller, Arian Foster, and even Jamaal Charles would have been decent enough.  John announces he wants a Quarterback, first, so we all expected Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, or even Peyton Manning to be selected.

     But John is a rookie.  He's lived in the state of Washington, near the Seattle area for the past 5 or 6 years and only moved back to the Buffalo area, recently.  He selected Russel Wilson with the third-overall pick.  At this point, I was flipping back and fourth through my personal draft sheets which I had compiled a few hour previously but when I heard that, I looked up and turned to him.

     "You're supposed to wait until, like, the last round or something before taking him," I said.  John simply smiled and said he really wanted him.  I knew he would need some help, so I gave him my draft sheets - I didn't need them anymore because I spent nearly 3 hours going over in my head who I would take for each round.

     John, with his second pick would select Jamaal Charles which was the 16th overall selection.  What a steal, right?!  Here's a funny side-note, though... he didn't actually draft him.  John said he wanted Charles Haley.  This is partially my fault because on my draft sheet, I only put Charles' last name.  So after a lot of arguing, the rest of our family decided to let him have Jamaal Charles, instead of a Charles Haley, a Defensive End in the 90's for the Dallas Cowboys.  Yeah, I had to Google that one.

     John's next two picks were Maurice Jones-Drew and Dwayne Bowe.  He said MJD's name correctly but thought Dwayne Bowe was David Bowie, the English singer but we all knew who he meant.  The next few picks is where things got pretty awful.

     He took Jason Witten in the 5th round.  Witten was the first-selected Tight End in our league but he was also ranked behind two other Tight Ends on my draft sheets; Jimmy Grahm and Vernon Davis.  He also still needed receivers and typically, Tight Ends tend to score less than Receivers on Yahoo!

     John's next pick was Tavon Austin, a rookie drafted in the 2013 NFL Draft by St. Louis.  Austin had an 80-yrd. punt return for a touchdown during the pre-season and my father watched that on ESPN and thought that was "so cool" and reminded him of Roscoe Parish.  Unfortunately, our league doesn't award individual players points for punt or kick returns - those get added onto the D/ST (Team Defense and Special Teams) of the team the player's on.

     Next, John selected Robert Woods, also a rookie Receiver but drafted by the Buffalo Bills.  I've watched a few pre-season games and I didn't think his performance was all that good but my father wanted a Bills player.

     He wanted a Bills player so much, he drafted another one - Fred Jackson.  Now, on the particular day our league drafted, ESPN had just re-tweeted a Twitter post by Doug Marrone, or someone on the Buffalo Bills that said Jackson would receive a "limited role in the Bills offense."  John wanted "Fast" Freddy Jackson, though.

     John finished up the draft by taking Matt Schaub, funnily enough, as his back-up Quarterback and selected Pierre Thomas and a few other rookies.  At the end of the day, Yahoo! gave his team a draft grade of 'D.'  He said "it was really fun" though, and that's what counts... right?