Dean Inge, outspoken English author and Anglican minister of the early 20th century, is quoted in The Wit and Wisdom of Dean Inge as saying, “Gambling is a disease of barbarians superficially civilized.” Although this statement could be considered slightly harsh, it is certain that the popularity of gambling continues to spread in the United States like an epidemic. Casinos with a litany of slot machines and card tables dot the nation. Lotteries garner millions of participants each year, while scratchcards are sold nearly everywhere. Sports betting is one element of gambling that has been dramatically restrained by statewide bans, for there are only a few states that allow bookmakers. However, a powerful yet controversial industry called daily fantasy sports (DFS) has been established. The popularity of this business has produced a heated debate about the legality of DFS.
The daily fantasy sports business is led by industry titans FanDuel and DraftKings. The games are worldwide competitions where a participant pays a small fee, usually well below $50 depending on the stakes of the competition, to design a team of real players from a prominent sports league, such as the NFL, NBA, or NCAA. Once a sporting event begins, each team’s roster is locked, making it impossible to alter. On game day, the contestants with the best performing players win a large sum of money from a massive pot. In the past few months, controversy over whether these daily computer games should be regulated or banned has reached an inferno. For instance, FanDuel and DraftKings have been tussling with New York over the state’s recent ban of daily fantasy sports. These sweeping measures that prohibit the businesses from functioning are understandable. FanDuel and DraftKings purport that their games could be compared to chess in terms of the skill needed to play. However, the luck involved in their trade destroys their argument. Because daily fantasy sports are unpredictable in nature due to athlete mindset, injuries, coaching decisions, and even the weather, they should be considered gambling as they are games of luck, not skill.
Athlete's Brain
An athlete’s mindset before and during a sporting event can impact his performance, thus affecting daily fantasy teams. Although most famous sportsmen learn how to calm worry and anger before important matches, the nervous system of a player’s body does play a massive part in conduct on the court, field, or ice rink. Just like an employee at an office, the amount of anxiety, anger, or fatigue in an athlete’s mind will make it more or less difficult to work at an elite level. An upcoming date with a seductive woman may send a player into daydreams or jitters, causing reduced production while playing (here's looking at you, Lamar Odom). A random insult from an opposing team could cause a competitor to start a fight, resulting in the possible ejection of that player from the game (well hello, Ron Artest, or whatever you'd like to call yourself). Too many consecutive games of a player being overworked will often produce fatigue, diminishing stats (Good evening, Jeremy Lin). Life is an erratic storm that can be difficult for anybody to weather, including professional athletes.
Online daily fantasy sports enthusiasts argue that by studying statistical trends, player slumps and spurts in productivity can be predicted. They say that the circumspect analysis of numbers calls for a strong element of skill when playing DFS. While this may be true, it is clear that DFS addicts are betting that the athletes they choose will not have abnormal behavior in their play. Professional athletes are not robots. It is nearly impossible for them to perform the exact same way twice, for it is their human nature to fluctuate in execution. Even the most stellar athletes in the world, such as LeBron James, Tom Brady, Alex Ovechkin, and Mike Trout, will have occasional mishaps. The undulation of overall performance is simply a component of sports. Even if an athlete was a robot, there would always be a chance that its inner mechanisms could malfunction. It is difficult to find anything flawless in the world and nearly impossible to find ultimate perfection in athletics.
The Injury Bug
The wide array of injuries that pervades sports is something that daily fantasy sports players battle. According to statistics displayed by the NFL, there were 228 concussions, 57 ACL injuries, and 133 MCL injuries in the 2013 season alone. The data was collected from all practices, preseason games, and regular-season games. Although these numbers were down slightly from the previous season’s totals, the fact remains that hundreds of NFL players each year suffer horrendous injuries that will knock them out of games entirely. This ends a player’s accumulation of positive statistics for an daily fantasy team’s total. Of course, this does not mean that the NFL is the only league where these jarring injuries occur. MLB pitchers often damage their UCL and need Tommy John surgery, while NHL players are concussed at alarming rates. The sheer volume of injuries in these popular leagues shows the volatility of daily fantasy sports.
It is extremely difficult to predict the occurrence of severe, fantasy football-affecting injuries. As an example, if daily fantasy sports players had started Le’Veon Bell, the primary running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers, on November 1st, 2015, their fantasy team would have been crippled. Many remember watching as Bell suffered a severe knee injury early in the game. If Bell had been slightly injured in the days and weeks leading up to the looming daily fantasy matchup, the fantasy team owner would have been prepared and likely wouldn’t have started him. However, just like most severe injuries, there was no warning. With one false move, Bell had not only torn his knee ligaments to shreds, but he had also destroyed the hopes and dreams of cash prizes for DFS players. This stroke of bad luck for Bell and DFS team owners proves how dice daily fantasy sports truly are.
Coaches Don't Care
Coaching decisions immediately before or during games can change an daily fantasy sports team from a legitimate contender into a laughingstock in mere seconds. Head coaches and managers do not care about someone’s precious fantasy team suffering because of executive decisions. For example, a coach wants to bench a famous center in the 3rd period of an NHL game to test the skills of an improving rookie. If the coach feels this is a good move for the team, the he will swiftly make the decision without giving one thought to the ramifications that will be felt on daily fantasy teams. Lineup changes are common in every sports league while coaches attempt different schemes. It is safe to assume that the management of professional sports teams would rather win real games rather than accommodate the needs of DFS players. Lineup volatility is yet another risk that daily fantasy team owners contend with when they play.
Mother Nature Prevails
There are many hidden uncertainties that add to the unpredictability of daily fantasy sports wagers, including the weather in sports like football and baseball. Each potential weather condition brings a level of uncertainty to an outdoor sport. Heat forces players to lumber through games in exhaustion. Rain pushes a ball to the ground quicker, lessening the time an NFL wide receiver or MLB outfielder has to make a catch. Muddy conditions will cause many players to slip no matter how sure-footed they are and may force them to lose their grasp on a ball. A small accumulation of snow raises the level of difficulty for an NFL running back to scamper by defenders. Even the movement of a single cloud on a sunny day can cause chaos, changing overall visibility.
By combining the vast amount of variables that affect daily fantasy sports, it is undeniable that a great deal of luck and chance is involved in the games. An athlete’s complex mind distracts him from the game, hurting overall statistics. Injuries ravage daily fantasy rosters without a moment’s notice. Coaches toy with rosters and playing styles like a Rubik’s cube. Weather that undergoes the slightest variance sends competitions into frenzies. Overall, it would only take a few things to go awry for a daily fantasy team owner’s gamble to fall flat on its face. daily fantasy sports fans can contend that their games are completely legal hobbies of skill. However, because of the myriad of risks they take when playing, they are living a lie.