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The implosion of the daily fantasy industry

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21–30 of 52 posts

Re: The implosion of the daily fantasy industry

#21
post #5

i don't know how accurate the article is but arguable the dfs industry is shrinking. almost no one other than fanduel/draftkings exists on a scale to possibly make a profit. and then you have state governments trying to ban them or charge them with crimes. the biggest long term problem i see (and the article partially addresses) is all these pros bumhunting the low-stakes games because there's no reason not to. it do…

I had no trouble getting my winnings out of Fanduel. I had to provide them with my social security number for tax purposes, but once they had that they mailed me a check within a week or so, and they sent me the appropriate tax info at the end of the year.

Re: The implosion of the daily fantasy industry

#22
I'm wondering why gambling(except for lotteries and casinos, etc.) was made illegal? Was it a 'we must protect people from themselves' type of law? Or a 'casinos have lobbied for protection of their business' type of law? Or 'this type of industry requires regulation but its too damn expensive to regulate' type of law?

I say this as the guy who consistently makes fun of the lottery while also buying video game 'this is totally not gambling either' loot chests.

Re: The implosion of the daily fantasy industry

#23
post #10

It really is a game of skill. And that's killing the industry. The good players, with a big bankroll and computer support, can win. Everybody else is a sucker. Like the stock market. So the suckers are bailing.

> The good players, with a big bankroll and computer support, can win.

That's pretty much the key to winning on these. Whenever they interview a 'big winner' they all seem to do the same thing - play a bunch of picks for each bet to spread out their chances. This of course is not what the little guy does or can do. There's so much 'luck' involved that you have to spread it out to have any hope of any sort of consistent winning.

That's also why there are more multi picks vs single-only picks available. The big guys can then buy bunches of entries in multi-pick contests.

Re: The implosion of the daily fantasy industry

#24

I'm wondering why gambling(except for lotteries and casinos, etc.) was made illegal? Was it a 'we must protect people from themselves' type of law? Or a 'casinos have lobbied for protection of their business' type of law? Or 'this type of industry requires regulation but its too damn expensive to regulate' type of law? I say this as the guy who consistently makes fun of the lottery while also buying video game 'this…

Where I live (Québec in Canada) the government has a crown corporation that has a monopoly on gambling. Competition is illegal because it would make the government lose revenues.

Re: The implosion of the daily fantasy industry

#25

I'm wondering why gambling(except for lotteries and casinos, etc.) was made illegal? Was it a 'we must protect people from themselves' type of law? Or a 'casinos have lobbied for protection of their business' type of law? Or 'this type of industry requires regulation but its too damn expensive to regulate' type of law? I say this as the guy who consistently makes fun of the lottery while also buying video game 'this…

It's a religion thing here in the US. Large Christian churches (Methodist for example) are against gambling on moral grounds, fight addictions, personal weakness, avarice, etc. Since money and an ability to get members to turn out to vote run everything in American politics, you end up with many states banning gambling on "moral grounds".

About 8 years ago where I live they wanted to built a horse racing track and we regularly got flyers from the anti-horse-racing group(local giant church) that claimed gambling brings crime, alcoholism, and prostitution to any community that allows it.

http://www.gambleonline.co/religious-views-of-gambling/

http://www.gotquestions.org/gambling-sin.html

Re: The implosion of the daily fantasy industry

#26
post #24

I'm wondering why gambling(except for lotteries and casinos, etc.) was made illegal? Was it a 'we must protect people from themselves' type of law? Or a 'casinos have lobbied for protection of their business' type of law? Or 'this type of industry requires regulation but its too damn expensive to regulate' type of law? I say this as the guy who consistently makes fun of the lottery while also buying video game 'this…

Where I live (Québec in Canada) the government has a crown corporation that has a monopoly on gambling. Competition is illegal because it would make the government lose revenues.

Publicly run gambling is interesting. I mean, a bookie is a bookie, but it seems a safer bet if your bookie is a publicly accountable institution.

Re: The implosion of the daily fantasy industry

#27
post #10

It really is a game of skill. And that's killing the industry. The good players, with a big bankroll and computer support, can win. Everybody else is a sucker. Like the stock market. So the suckers are bailing.

> The good players, with a big bankroll and computer support, can win. That's pretty much the key to winning on these. Whenever they interview a 'big winner' they all seem to do the same thing - play a bunch of picks for each bet to spread out their chances. This of course is not what the little guy does or can do. There's so much 'luck' involved that you have to spread it out to have any hope of any sort of consiste…

Yes and I believe the sites allow the high rollers to create lineups via API.

Re: The implosion of the daily fantasy industry

#28
post #10

It really is a game of skill. And that's killing the industry. The good players, with a big bankroll and computer support, can win. Everybody else is a sucker. Like the stock market. So the suckers are bailing.

> The good players, with a big bankroll and computer support, can win. That's pretty much the key to winning on these. Whenever they interview a 'big winner' they all seem to do the same thing - play a bunch of picks for each bet to spread out their chances. This of course is not what the little guy does or can do. There's so much 'luck' involved that you have to spread it out to have any hope of any sort of consiste…

[deleted]

Re: The implosion of the daily fantasy industry

#29

I'm wondering why gambling(except for lotteries and casinos, etc.) was made illegal? Was it a 'we must protect people from themselves' type of law? Or a 'casinos have lobbied for protection of their business' type of law? Or 'this type of industry requires regulation but its too damn expensive to regulate' type of law? I say this as the guy who consistently makes fun of the lottery while also buying video game 'this…

Gambling is an entertainment industry that, without strict regulation, quickly devolves into crime.

(It is not unique in that respect.)

Re: The implosion of the daily fantasy industry

#30

I'm wondering why gambling(except for lotteries and casinos, etc.) was made illegal? Was it a 'we must protect people from themselves' type of law? Or a 'casinos have lobbied for protection of their business' type of law? Or 'this type of industry requires regulation but its too damn expensive to regulate' type of law? I say this as the guy who consistently makes fun of the lottery while also buying video game 'this…

You want it to be regulated, and the government also needs to be able to collect tax revenue from it.
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