A year ago, fantasy sports was rapidly building into a multibillion dollar US business with huge global potential.
Now it is fighting to survive amid objections that the industry is essentially unregulated gambling.
Fantasy sports competitions give die-hard fans a chance to field their own teams in virtual matches for huge payoffs.
Participants create teams by choosing players from a real-world sports league like the US National Basketball Association, the National Football League (NFL) or England’s Premier League.
As real games are played, a fantasy team competes and is ranked against others based on the actual-game statistical performance of its players. Winners of the biggest fantasy games can take home US$1 million or more.
Lawmakers in several US states see this as just a new form of gambling, and are looking into ways to regulate the industry. The business faced a key legislative vote on its future in New York yesterday.
Adding to the uncertainty, the Fantasy Sports Trade Association (FSTA) conference in New York this week was rattled by reports that two industry heavyweights, FanDuel and DraftKings, might merge to help survive as they battle for legitimacy.
“You can weather the storm. Hunker down, survive this,” FSTA president Paul Charchian told about 300 attendees. “We are going to have a better environment going forward.”
Fantasy sports have boomed thanks to a huge infusion of capital and support from major sports leagues.
Settling the legitimacy battle is crucial before the lucrative fall NFL season launches.
Fantasy sports reached its apex late last year, when DraftKings and FanDuel, generously financed like Silicon Valley tech start-ups, undertook a massive marketing blitz ahead of the NFL season that drew in millions of new players.
The competitions are particularly popular with tech-savvy millennials who have integrated the games into the smartphone and social network culture.
However, the growth momentum was dampened by legal challenges in several states. The industry is battling regulation efforts in states that include New York, Texas, Florida and Illinois.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and others believe the fantasy sports giants engage in false advertising, and violate consumer protections and anti-gambling laws.
Supporters say that fantasy sports is a game of skill, as players analyze data to choose winning teams in competitions that can last one day or months.
However, critics say that, like gambling, players are betting on the outcome of real-life and virtual games over which the fantasy players have no actual influence.
Industry champions were keeping their fingers crossed for a positive outcome in New York’s capital Albany, where representatives must act before yesterday’s end of the legislative season if fantasy sports is to resume in the state before the NFL season opens in September.
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