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103-462: The history of fantasy games can be traced to the 19th century. The tabletop game Sebring Parlor Base Ball , introduced in 1866, allowed participants to simulate games by propelling a coin into slots on a wooden board. Later games featured outcomes determined by dice rolls or spinners. In 1930, Clifford Van Beek designed the board game National Pastime , which contained customized baseball cards of Major League Baseball (MLB) players. After rolling

206-607: A $ 2 billion industry in the United States, experiencing 10.7% annual growth and employing 4,386 people in 292 businesses. According to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association, in 2017, the size of the fantasy sports industry reached $ 7.22 billion, per research by Ipsos . The study estimated that there were 59.3 million fantasy sports players in the United States and Canada as of that year. The Fantasy Sports & Gaming Association estimates that

309-633: A fantasy football league. The show ran for seven seasons from 2009 to 2015 and featured frequent cameos from then-current and former NFL players. In 2019, For The Win profiled a pair of exclusive and highly competitive celebrity leagues, Bloodsport and the AGBO Superhero League. Both leagues were created by figures associated with the Marvel Cinematic Universe and counted numerous actors, including Robert Downey Jr. , Chris Hemsworth , and Tom Holland , as members. In

412-529: A fantasy program called The Fantasy Show hosted by long time staff writer Matthew Berry . The Fantasy Show utilizes puppets and comedy to present statistical information about NFL players. ESPN also aires a show on Sunday mornings during the NFL season called Fantasy Football Now. "Fantasy Football Now" airs live on Sunday mornings during the NFL season, a time when fans are making last-minute roster moves and need

515-516: A form of sports wagering. A Florida state attorney general's opinion in 1991 called into doubt the legality of fantasy football contests, but companies have operated in the state without any legal action. Since then nine other AGs have issued options, statements or formal opinions that equate DFS with gambling. However, several other Attorneys General have issued opinions that DFS are legal games of skill. In August 2015 in Kansas, due to uncertainty with

618-534: A four-year sponsorship deal for the IPL in 2019. [REDACTED] The Fantasy Sports Trade Association was formed in 1998 to represent the growing industry in the United States and Canada. Now known as the Fantasy Sports & Gaming Association, the organization aims to support fantasy sports, sports gambling in general, and its associated businesses and participants. The Fantasy Sports Writers Association

721-427: A league with standard scoring. Each team is allowed a set number of players on each roster, as well as a specified number of starters at each position that can be used in a matchup. Each week, owners determine which players will start and which will be "benched." Just like in real football, players who are usually benched can become starters for various reasons: due to a starting player's injury, poor performance, or if

824-521: A major statistical provider to fantasy sports companies, won a court case, along with Motorola , on appeal against the NBA in which the NBA was trying to stop STATS from distributing in game score information via a special wireless device created by Motorola. The victory played a large part in defending other cases where sports leagues have tried to suppress live in-game information from their events being distributed by other outlets. The victory also accelerated

927-721: A multi-year sponsorship deal with the NHL. In April 2015, after the NFL began to allow daily fantasy providers to sign multi-year team sponsorship deals, FanDuel reached deals with sixteen teams for placements on team-oriented digital properties, radio broadcasts, and within their stadiums. DraftKings has also received investments from Jerry Jones and Robert Kraft , who own the Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots , respectively. The legality of daily fantasy sports has been questioned, with critics arguing that they more closely resemble proposition wagering on athlete performance than

1030-742: A number of newspapers throughout the United States, including the Arizona Republic , the Detroit Free Press , the Los Angeles Times , and the Miami Herald . Players chose their teams by calling a toll-free phone number and entering four-digit codes for each of their selections. Pigskin Playoff served as an early version of today's daily fantasy football by rewarding each week's highest-scoring participant with

1133-501: A paid model in the wake of Yahoo's decision, some smaller sites, such as RotoWire, began offering paid products as they started losing business to larger competitors. CBS, which had transitioned to a free model for its league commissioner services, switched back to a paid model before the 2002 MLB season. A trade group for the industry, the Fantasy Sports Trade Association , was formed in 1998. Now known as

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1236-457: A pair of dice, participants would consult the card of the MLB player " at bat " to determine an outcome, which could range from a single , double , triple , or home run to a strikeout , putout , walk , or error . Players with better statistics in the previous season were more likely to receive favorable outcomes; this allowed National Pastime to become one of the first games to try to simulate

1339-603: A player who passes for over 300 yards in a game or scores a touchdown of over 40 yards, among others. NFL.com also allows players to earn points in statistical categories that are not traditionally a part of fantasy scoring, such as pass attempts or yards gained on kickoff and punt returns. In addition to earning or losing fantasy points based on real-life points allowed, team defenses may also earn or lose points based on real-life yards allowed. ESPN even allows custom scoring for punting yards, touchbacks , and punting average. Sleeper offers similar customization options, but also allows

1442-419: A point. PPR leagues are higher-scoring and place a greater emphasis on wide receivers, tight ends, and running backs who catch a large number of passes, while half-PPR leagues attempt to provide more balance between rushing and receiving. The majority of leagues employ either PPR or half-PPR scoring. Many major fantasy football websites use PPR as their default setting, including ESPN and NFL.com. The following

1545-500: A portion of which funds a prize pool that is distributed among the game's winner or winners. In June 2007, Fantasy Sports Live, one of the first daily fantasy sites, was launched. In November 2008, NBC launched a daily fantasy site called SnapDraft, and FanDuel was founded in 2009 as a spin-off of a Scottish prediction market company . DraftKings was founded in 2012. Following venture capital investments from various firms, including from professional sports leagues such as MLB and

1648-408: A positive impact on NFL spectatorship. NFL executives have recognized the importance of fantasy football's success to the league. A 2019 survey found that people who had played fantasy football were more than twice as likely to follow the NFL "very closely" or "somewhat closely" than those who had not. Nearly a quarter of fantasy players reported that the primary reason that they watched NFL games

1751-642: A shared betting pool . The structure of these games has led some jurisdictions to characterize and regulate online fantasy contents as a form of gambling . Have you ever wondered what it would be like to own and coach your own NFL franchise? This is the dream of every Monday-morning quarterback . We've all snarled our share of "If I ran that team..." Now, thousands of fans have a way to display their coaching and general managing expertise—or lack of it. Glenn Ferry, Inside Sports Modern fantasy football can be traced back to Wilfred "Bill" Winkenbach, an Oakland, California businessman and limited partner in

1854-410: A superflex position, any offensive player, including quarterbacks, may fill the slot. Other leagues have a two-quarterback requirement for each starting lineup. In individual defensive player (IDP) leagues, the defensive portion of rosters is composed of individual players from various teams rather than an entire NFL team's defensive and special teams unit. League managers earn fantasy points based on

1957-442: A team's players. Many of the original fantasy football leagues were pure-scoring leagues as this provided for easier tracking of team points throughout the season. As the game matured and moved online, tracking yardage became easier and more sophisticated scoring configurations were adopted. In pure-yardage leagues, points may only be scored by accumulating passing, rushing, or receiving yards. An alternative method for scoring defense

2060-419: A three-game suspension and a $ 5,000 fine. Pham said that the slap was prompted by his belief that Pederson had broken the rules of a fantasy football league in which they had both participated during the previous football season. Pham said that he did not regret the slap, stating: "It's a matter of principle, man." A fantasy football league may be organized in a variety of ways. The most popular league type

2163-796: A traditional fantasy sports game. However, following the 2018 United States Supreme Court decision in Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association , which allowed states to legalize sports betting, questions surrounding the legality of daily fantasy sports, as well as fantasy sports in general, within the United States have largely been settled. As of May 2023, while 33 US states have operational legalized sports betting, 45 states have legalized daily fantasy sports. As of May 2023, DraftKings and FanDuel operate daily fantasy contests in 44 states each. Only one state, Montana , has officially banned online fantasy sports. In May 2015, Australian market research firm IBISWorld reported that fantasy sports comprised

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2266-412: A trip to Hawaii . In 1997, CBS launched an online fantasy football competition, with other sports networks and websites quickly following suit. Yahoo was the first site to launch a free competition, giving it an advantage over its industry competitors. The NFL launched its own official game on the league's website in 2010. Online growth has fueled both the fantasy football industry and interest in

2369-535: A weekly basis during the NFL season hosted by Katy Winge and features industry experts Brad Evans and Nate Lundy. Fantasy sports are generally considered to be a form of gambling , though they are far less strictly regulated than other forms of sports betting . Unlike traditional sports betting, fantasy sports are generally viewed as "games of skill," rather than "games of chance," thus exempting them from gambling bans and regulations in many jurisdictions. The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA),

2472-838: A weekly fantasy baseball columnist, John Hunt. Hunt started a league among sports personalities called the League of Alternate Baseball Reality , which first included Peter Gammons , Keith Olbermann and Bill James , among others. The growth of the Internet during the 1990s brought a "broad demographic shift in fantasy sports participation" because it enabled fantasy sports participants to instantaneously download tabulated statistics, rather than having to search for box scores of individual games in newspapers and keep track of cumulative statistics on paper. In 1995, ESPN launched its first entirely Internet-based fantasy baseball game, with other major sports and entertainment companies following suit in

2575-420: A wide receiver who completes a pass would earn the same number of points as a quarterback completing the same pass. A key distinction in scoring systems is between standard and points per reception (PPR) scoring. Leagues with standard scoring award no points for receptions, though players still earn points for receiving yards gained. PPR leagues award one point for each reception, while half-PPR leagues award half

2678-413: Is a game in which the participants serve as owners and general managers of virtual gridiron football teams. The competitors select their rosters by participating in a draft in which all relevant National Football League (NFL) players are available. Fantasy points are awarded in weekly matchups based on the actual performances of football players in real-world competition. The game typically involves

2781-448: Is a standard starting lineup configuration and is used as the default setting on NFL.com, ESPN , and Yahoo except where noted: There exist numerous possible variants of the traditional roster alignment. The number of starter, bench, and injured reserve slots can be altered. Sleeper, a recent upstart fantasy football platform, defaults to two flex spots. The eligible positions for the flex slot are variable. For example, in leagues with

2884-460: Is based directly or indirectly on games in which professional or amateur athletes participate or on the performance of any athletes in such games. Where states have not expressly authorized fantasy sports contests, usually general gambling laws prohibit lotteries or wagering if three elements are present: an entry fee (known as "consideration"), a prize (a "reward," in legal terms) and chance. Whether fantasy sports are legal under these laws hinges on

2987-642: Is because the Federal Wire Act prohibits the conduct of sports wagering in interstate or foreign commerce. With regard to intrastate sports wagering, in 2018 the United States Supreme Court in Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, which had prohibited states from authorizing any wagering, lottery, betting, sweepstakes or other wagering scheme that

3090-643: Is estimated at $ 2 to $ 5 billion annually. This form of revenue can be especially lucrative because fantasy team managers are often frequent Internet users. On average, fantasy players generated four times more page views and spent six times as long on NFL.com than non-fantasy players in 2012. Fantasy football has given rise to a number of complementary and derivative industries. Subscription-based information sites, such as Rotoworld , offer advanced data and player rankings marketed as providing an informational advantage. Fantasy-specific escrow companies, such as LeagueSafe, may hold league entry fees in secure accounts until

3193-525: Is generally viewed as a "game of skill," rather than a "game of chance," thus exempting it from gambling bans and regulations in many jurisdictions. As of May 2023, daily fantasy sports operate in 45 US states, as well as in several other countries around the world. According to a 2023 survey by the FSGA , 23% of American adults participate in sports betting, while 19% of American adults participate in fantasy sports. Fantasy football affects viewership for

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3296-407: Is head-to-head, in which each team is matched up against an opponent each week, with the team that scores the most fantasy points earning a win in the standings. A less common form of league is a total points league, in which the league standings are determined by the number of points each team scores over an entire season. In addition to scoring variations, league organization may also differ based on

3399-540: Is individual defensive player (IDP) scoring. Rather than awarding points for the on-field actions of entire defensive units, IDP scoring awards points for plays made by individual players. Such plays may include tackles , sacks, interceptions, quarterback hits, safeties, and other defensive statistics. Most fantasy websites allow leagues to customize their own scoring options. Some leagues award bonus points to players for exceptional performances. For example, NFL.com allows leagues to customize scoring to award bonus points for

3502-446: Is one such organization that has a few chapters at different schools. Digital tabletops games are digital variations of tabletop games, which include straight reproductions of existing physical tabletop games, video games that use tabletop game principles as part of their gameplay mechanics, and tabletop simulators that provide a virtual tabletop for conducting tabletop games online. Fantasy football (gridiron) Fantasy football

3605-541: Is the default scoring system on NFL.com and is identical to the default scoring systems of ESPN and Yahoo except where noted. Negative points are awarded for yards lost at the same rate that positive points are awarded for yards gained. A team defense can also gain or lose fantasy points based on the number of real-life points that they allow. The following is the default defensive scoring system on NFL.com and Yahoo. A pure-scoring system awards fantasy points based solely on touchdowns, field goals, and extra points scored by

3708-600: Is the state of Nevada, which has an exemption in PASPA to allow for sports betting. The Nevada attorney general issued an opinion that found Daily Fantasy Sports to be a form of sports wagering, similar to the current wagering offered by Nevada Sports Books. The opinions states that Daily Fantasy Sports are not illegal in Nevada; however, a sports pool license is required to conduct the activity in Nevada. Several Attorneys General have also issued opinions that Daily Fantasy Sports are

3811-484: Is their ability to offer every owner equal access to every player, whereas in a traditional format, a certain owner's desired player may be selected by another team before his or her turn to pick. Drafts can be conducted in "live" or "auto" formats. Live drafts involve team owners selecting players in real time, while auto drafts are those in which selections are made automatically by computer based on pre-draft rankings set by each owner. Often, owners who are not present at

3914-511: Is tracking player injuries throughout the season. Critics charge that this leads to fantasy players being more concerned with the amount of game time missed by an injured player than the nature or extent of the injury. David Chao said that when he was team doctor for the San Diego Chargers , "The first 10 to 12 years, I would be asked 'Is LT ( LaDainian Tomlinson ) healthy?' to help our team win this Sunday. The last five years there,

4017-508: The Hartford Courant , the Los Angeles Times , and the Miami Herald . Players chose their teams by calling a toll-free phone number and entering four-digit codes for each of their player selections. The games served as an early version of today's daily fantasy sports by rewarding each week's highest-scoring participants with prizes. In 1993, the magazine Fantasy Football Weekly was launched. Also that year, USA Today added

4120-479: The Hockey Hall of Fame . CBS Sports began offering fantasy football leagues in 1997, the same year that the fantasy news website now known as RotoWire was launched. In July 1999, Yahoo began offering its fantasy football product for free, a decision that gave the site an advantage over its competitors. The creators of Fantasy Football Weekly launched Fanball.com later that year. While some sites abandoned

4223-450: The IBM 1620 computer by John Burgeson , then working for IBM . A user would select a team from a limited roster of retired players to play against a team randomly chosen by the computer. The computer would then use random number generation and player statistics to simulate a game's outcome and print a play-by-play description of it. While some of these fantasy games produced outcomes based on

Fantasy sport - Misplaced Pages Continue

4326-534: The National Basketball Association (NBA) , DraftKings and FanDuel launched an aggressive marketing campaign prior to the 2015 NFL season. At its peak, the two companies collectively ran an ad on national television in the United States once every 90 seconds. In addition to receiving direct investments from sports leagues, the two companies have reached sponsorship deals with several leagues and teams. In November 2014, DraftKings entered into

4429-603: The Oakland Raiders . In a New York City hotel room during a 1962 Raiders cross-country trip, Winkenbach, along with Raiders public relations employee Bill Tunnel and Oakland Tribune reporter Scotty Stirling , developed the rules that would eventually be the basis of modern fantasy football. The inaugural league was called the Greater Oakland Professional Pigskin Prognosticators League (GOPPPL), and

4532-473: The Strat-O-Matic game, which was first released in 1961. Daniel Okrent , who would later be credited with developing modern fantasy baseball , was an avid Strat-O-Matic player, telling Sports Illustrated in 2011 that "if there hadn't been Strat-O-Matic, I still think I would have come up with rotisserie , but unquestionably it helped." In 1961, another early form of fantasy baseball was coded for

4635-605: The 1980s by a group of journalists who created Rotisserie League Baseball in 1980. The league was named after the New York City restaurant La Rotisserie Française, where its founders met for lunch and first played the game. Magazine writer-editor Daniel Okrent is credited with introducing the rotisserie league concept to the group and inventing the scoring system. Players in the Rotisserie League drafted teams of active MLB players and tracked their statistics during

4738-421: The 50 US states . The only state with a ban on online fantasy sports that is codified in statute is Montana . As of January 2022, daily fantasy sports are legal in 45 US states, with 23 of those states explicitly passing legislation legalizing the practice. There have been other legal cases involving fantasy sports and the use of professional athletes' statistics for purposes of scoring. In 1996, STATS, Inc. ,

4841-751: The AGBO league, each participant played for a share of $ 100,000 to be donated to the charitable organization of their choice. Fantasy sports are generally considered to be a form of gambling , though they are far less strictly regulated than other forms of sports betting . In the United States, Montana is the only state with a prohibition against online fantasy sports that is codified in statute. Louisiana and Arizona , states with bans previously not explicitly outlined by law, launched online fantasy offerings in their states in 2021. In contrast, as of May 2023, only 33 US states have operational legalized sports betting. Unlike traditional sports betting, fantasy football

4944-506: The Baseball Seminar league. Two years later, in a New York City hotel room during a 1962 Raiders cross-country trip, Winkenbach, along with Raiders public relations employee Bill Tunnel and Oakland Tribune reporter Scotty Stirling , developed the rules that would eventually be the basis of modern fantasy football . The inaugural league was called the Greater Oakland Professional Pigskin Prognosticators League (GOPPPL), and

5047-477: The Fantasy Sports & Gaming Association (FSGA), the organization estimates that in 2003, there were 15.2 million fantasy sports players in the United States and Canada. During the first decade of the 2000s, fantasy sports started to become a mainstream hobby. In 2002, the National Football League (NFL) found that while the average male surveyed on its website spent 6.6 hours a week watching

5150-485: The Grandstand Sports Services launched the first nationally available fantasy football leagues online through Q-Link (later America Online ). In 1987, Fantasy Football Index , the first national magazine dedicated to fantasy football, was launched by Ian Allan and Bruce Taylor. The first national newspaper fantasy football competition was Pigskin Playoff. The weekly game was launched in 1990 in

5253-606: The Illegal Gambling Business Act 18 U.S. Code § 1955 (which prohibits the interstate conduct of wagering activity prohibited under state law). By contrast, the UIGEA is found in Title 31 with other anti-money laundering and financial crimes statutes. Whether state laws can regulate fantasy sports conducted across state lines depends on whether fantasy sports are a form of sports wagering under federal law. This

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5356-538: The NFL itself. As of 2022, an estimated 62.5 million people played fantasy sports in the United States and Canada, per the Fantasy Sports & Gaming Association , and around four out of five fantasy participants played fantasy football. On May 27, 2022, Cincinnati Reds player Tommy Pham slapped Joc Pederson of the San Francisco Giants in the face prior to a game; he would later receive

5459-416: The NFL, as fantasy owners have rooting interests that go beyond those of traditional fans. While most individuals will follow a specific team, fantasy players follow the entire league due to the nature of the game, in which players on their roster may play for any team in the NFL. Despite leading to some conflict of interests between rooting interests and fantasy success, fantasy football has been shown to have

5562-524: The NFL, but can also involve other leagues, such as the Canadian Football League or NCAA . There are three main types of fantasy football: Fantasy football is often played in small groups of mutually familiar individuals who may or may not be playing for money. However, online fantasy contests, particularly those run by daily fantasy companies, regularly involve large groups of people who otherwise do not know each other contributing to

5665-478: The UIGEA exempted fantasy sports from its definition of a bet or wager, there is a misconception that fantasy sports were made legal by the UIGEA. However the UIGEA is not a criminal gambling statute, and it specifically does not alter any criminal gambling laws and thus does not make fantasy sports legal. Federal criminal gambling statutes are found in Title 18 of U.S. Code, such as the Federal Wire Act 18 U.S. Code § 1084 (which prohibits interstate sports wagering) and

5768-430: The act does not alter the legality of any particular activity permitted or prohibited under other laws, it does contain some express exemptions to its funds transfer prohibitions. One of these exemptions from the UIGEA prohibitions is for fantasy sports that meet certain criteria. Specifically, fantasy sports that are based on teams of real multiple athletes from multiple real world teams, that have prizes established before

5871-527: The ages of 18 and 34, and 84% had a college degree or higher. A 2015 analysis found that 89.8% were white and 51.5% were unmarried. Many fantasy leagues require an entry fee that is given to or used to fund prizes for the top player or players in the league. Daily fantasy platforms, such as FanDuel , manage games with thousands of players and collect a percentage of each entry fee before distributing winnings. For example, FanDuel's revenue includes 10% of its entry fee intake. Fantasy players also contribute to

5974-753: The ages of 18 and 34, and 84% had a college degree or higher. A 2015 analysis found that 89.8% were white and 51.5% were unmarried. According to the FSGA, the most popular fantasy sport in the US and Canada is gridiron football , which is played by approximately 79% of fantasy participants. The next most popular sports are basketball (32%), baseball (22%), ice hockey (12%), association football (11%), and college football (11%). Research has shown that fantasy players are also generally stronger consumers of alcoholic beverages, fast food, airline travel, video games, sports periodicals, athletic shoes, and cell phones relative to

6077-480: The best possible lineup for a given week or season. These advanced players are often far more successful than casual fans; a 2015 study found that 91% of daily fantasy baseball profits over the first half of the season were won by the top 1.3% of players. Fantasy football has occasionally featured as a theme or plot point in popular media. The FX show The League , once described as a prime example of "fantasy football hooliganism," depicts six friends competing in

6180-442: The chosen time of the draft will "auto-draft" while the rest of the league makes their selections live. Whether live or auto, the vast majority of fantasy football drafts take place online, but some leagues hold in-person drafts in which selections are made on computers or physical draft boards. A variety of strategies may be employed by owners when making their selections. Fantasy football websites routinely release projections for

6283-436: The commissioner to adjust the number points awarded from a reception based on position. According to the Fantasy Sports & Gaming Association (FSGA) , an estimated 62.5 million people played fantasy sports in the US and Canada in 2022. The FSGA estimated that 19% of American adults played fantasy sports in 2023, compared to 13% in 2014. A 2023 FSGA survey found that 64% of fantasy sports players were male, 48% were between

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6386-471: The definition of "chance" that the state applies. For some states, if skill dominates the outcome of the event, then the contest is legal, and passes what is called the "dominant factor test." Other states with a stricter definition of chance, called "any chance test," have made fantasy football illegal. Several states have clarified that paid fantasy sports contests are games of skill and exempt from gambling laws, beginning with Maryland in 2012. One exception

6489-403: The demand for real-time statistics amid the growth of the fantasy sports industry. The development of fantasy sports produced tension between fantasy sports companies and professional leagues and players associations over the rights to player profiles and statistics. The players associations of the major sports leagues believed that fantasy games using player names were subject to licensing due to

6592-695: The economy via spending on industry products and services, such as advanced scouting reports and player rankings. In 2012, an estimated $ 1.67 billion was spent on fantasy sports in the United States and Canada, not including league entry fees. In 2019, the size of the American and Canadian fantasy sports industry was estimated at more than $ 7 billion by the FSGA . Advertising is one of the largest sources of fantasy football revenue. Many sports websites that offer free entry into leagues use advertising to support their fantasy offerings. Though difficult to quantify, revenue generated by ads on fantasy football programming

6695-517: The elements of chance involved. In game theory , two fundamentally different elements of chance can play a role: Examples of the chance classification for some well-known tabletop games are given in the table below. List of organizations that sponsor events featuring tabletop games: Numerous independent, local groups run by gamers exist to play tabletop games. Additionally, many colleges have student run organizations pertaining solely to table top gaming. The Collegiate Association of Table Top Gamers

6798-460: The end of a given tournament, with the lowest combined total of strokes winning. He also created a baseball game in which players drafted hitters and pitchers, comparing their real-life statistics against each other. These early experiments, however, failed to spread to the general public. In 1960, sociologist William A. Gamson developed the Baseball Seminar league, in which participants would draft rosters of active MLB players and compare results at

6901-475: The end of the season based on the players' final batting averages , earned run averages , runs batted in , and win totals. Gamson would go on to play the game as a professor at the University of Michigan, where another competitor was Bob Sklar. One of Sklar's students was Daniel Okrent. According to Alan Schwarz's The Numbers Game: Baseball’s Lifelong Fascination with Statistics , Sklar told Okrent about

7004-477: The end of the season. Other websites offer the ability to have disputes between players solved by a third party via fantasy football arbitration. The rise of fantasy football has contributed to a rise in interest in applying high-level mathematics and computer science to the fantasy industry. A small number of fantasy players, usually with advanced degrees in mathematics, statistics, or computer science, apply algorithms and advanced statistics in order to hypothesize

7107-506: The ensuing years. In October of that year, a fantasy hockey website was released by Molson Breweries as part of the company's "I am Online" marketing strategy centered around its I am Canadian advertising campaign. The site focused on music, entertainment and hockey in general in addition to fantasy competitions. It allowed users to register accounts and participate in fantasy leagues of nine teams. The site included updates of National Hockey League (NHL) statistics and provided content from

7210-438: The event starts, that use the skill of participants to determine the outcome, are exempted from the definition of a bet or wager that is the basis for requiring banks to identify and block funds transfers. According to Congressman Jim Leach , an author of the UIGEA, exemptions, particularly one for fantasy sports, were included to relieve the burden of enforcement on banks and the UIGEA does not make fantasy sports legal. Because

7313-442: The fans or could it be construed as gambling ." However, leagues began to embrace fantasy sports as their value towards increasing fans' consumption of sports became more evident. Daily fantasy sports are accelerated versions of the traditional fantasy format in which contests are conducted over shorter periods than a full season, often lasting one week or even a single day. Daily fantasy games are typically subject to an entry fee,

7416-628: The fantasy industry has also experienced a recent period of growth. The development of daily fantasy sports has encouraged growth in European markets. ESPN Super Selector launched in 2001 for fantasy cricket and had 500,000 users during the 2003 Cricket World Cup . By 2017, there were 40 million fantasy sports players in India. In 2019, the number had grown to 90 million, and in 2020, an estimated 100 million Indians participated in fantasy sports. The market leader in fantasy sports in India, Dream11 , signed

7519-585: The first draft took place at Winkenbach's home in Oakland in August 1963. One of the league's original members, Andy Mousalimas, owned a sports bar in Oakland called the King's X, where the first public fantasy football league was founded in 1969. The idea spread by word of mouth when the patrons of other Bay Area bars visited the King's X for trivia contests. Modern fantasy baseball was developed and popularized in

7622-740: The first draft took place in Winkenbach's home in Oakland in August 1963. The league consisted of eight members, made up of administrative affiliates of the American Football League , pro football journalists, and individuals who had purchased or sold 10 season tickets for the Raiders' 1963 season. Each roster consisted of two quarterbacks , four halfbacks , two fullbacks , four wide receivers or tight ends , two return specialists , two kickers , two defensive backs or linebackers , and two defensive linemen . The scoring system

7725-399: The first national magazine dedicated to fantasy football, was launched by Ian Allan and Bruce Taylor. Fantasy Sports Magazine debuted in 1989 as the first regular publication covering more than one fantasy sport. In 1990, a pair of nationwide fantasy games, Dugout Derby and Pigskin Playoff, were launched in a variety of newspapers across the United States, including the Arizona Republic ,

7828-977: The general form, or equipment utilized: Games like chess and draughts are examples of games belonging to the board game category. Other games, however, use various attributes and cannot be classified unambiguously (e.g. Monopoly and many modern eurogames utilize a board as well as dice and cards). For several of these categories there are sub-categories and even sub-sub-categories or genres. For instance, German-style board games , board wargames , and roll-and-move games are all types of board games that differ markedly in style and general interest. The various specialized parts, pieces, and tools used for playing tabletop games may include: A refereed game could also include various aids to play, including scenario packs and computer game aids. Role-playing games can include campaign settings and various supplementary manuals and notes. As an alternative to classifying games by equipment, they can also be classified according to

7931-510: The general population. The FSGA reported in 2019 that fantasy players were also far more likely to use Instagram or Snapchat , visit a sports bar, and get food delivered than the general population. Due to the popularity of fantasy sports, major sports networks such as ESPN , NFL Network , and Fox Sports have created dedicated weekly fantasy programming to analyze player performance and predict outcomes in relation to particular scoring systems. ESPN's on-demand streaming platform ESPN+ offers

8034-783: The impact of fantasy football on fans' habits and preferences. In 2006, then- Denver Broncos quarterback Jake Plummer told ESPN, "I think it's ruined the game" due to fan allegiance shifting away from teams and towards individual player performance. Then- New York Giants running back Tiki Barber said that "in a game solely designed around the team concept, it's nice to have some individual recognition every now and then. Fantasy football does that." Fans frequently ask players on their fantasy rosters to score more often; Peyton Manning reported that only autograph requests exceeded fan requests for "more fantasy touchdowns" from him. Several NFL players have stated that they play fantasy football as well. A key component of fantasy football team management

8137-795: The inaugural draft, brought the game to his Oakland sports bar, the King's X, where the first public fantasy football league was founded. From this point onward, the idea spread by word of mouth when the patrons of other Bay Area bars visited the King's X for trivia contests. Fantasy football slowly spread across the country in the following decades. Early leagues whose existence has been documented were typically founded by groups of friends attending school together. Examples include leagues founded at DePaul University of Chicago, Illinois in 1978, Case Western Reserve University of Cleveland, Ohio in 1980, and Marist School of Atlanta, Georgia in 1983. Each of these leagues maintained continuous operation for several decades after their founding. In 1985,

8240-587: The latest news from around the league. Providing the latest info are analysts Matthew Berry , Field Yates and licensed physical therapist Stephania Bell , who gives injury updates. NFL Network aires NFL Fantasy Live as an hour long program containing a consistent weekly segment list that viewers can count on to help them manage their team. NFL Fantasy Live is hosted by Cole Wright and features Michael Fabiano, Adam Rank, Marcas Grant, Akbar Gbaja-Biamila , Graham Barfield and statistics analytics expert Cynthia Frelund . Fox Sports Net aires Fantasy Football Hour on

8343-643: The lawsuit it would have a dramatic impact on the industry, which was largely ignored by the major sports leagues for years while a number of smaller entrepreneurs grew it into a multibillion-dollar industry, and a ruling could allow the MLBAM to have a monopoly over the industry. Tabletop game Tabletop games or tabletops are games that are normally played on a table or other flat surface, such as board games , card games , dice games , miniature wargames , tabletop role-playing games , or tile-based games . Tabletop games can be classified according to

8446-641: The league on television, fantasy players surveyed said they watched 8.4 hours of NFL football per week. "This is the first time we've been able to demonstrate specifically that fantasy play drives TV viewing," said Chris Russo, the NFL's senior vice president at the time. As a result of the survey's findings, the league made fantasy offerings more prominent on its website and produced television ads for fantasy football featuring active players. Prior to these developments, fantasy sports were largely viewed negatively by major sports leagues, with Russo later recalling that "there were concerns about whether it would be right for

8549-410: The league standings from the previous year, in which the team with the worst record picks first, followed by the team with the second-worst record, etc. In some cases, owners retain the same draft position in each round. In contrast, in a traditional " serpentine " or "snake" draft, owners draft players in a "snake" method, in which the owner who picks first in the odd rounds picks last in the even rounds,

8652-509: The number of fantasy sports players in the US and Canada grew from 500,000 in 1988 to 15.2 million in 2003, declining slightly over the next few years before growing to 29.9 million in 2008 and 62.5 million in 2022. In 2015, Forbes estimated that the number of yearly non-betting fantasy sports users had grown 25% since 2011. This growth encouraged hundreds of millions of dollars in investments into emerging daily fantasy sports leagues, such as FanDuel and DraftKings . Outside of North America,

8755-835: The number of points each player will score during an upcoming season. The concept of value-based drafting entails comparing the projected fantasy point value for a given player and comparing this value to those of other players at his position. A player with a high value and a low average draft position (ADP) is likely to be undervalued by fantasy owners; the concept of value-based drafting is designed to find such players. Some positions are considered more valuable than others, with running backs, wide receivers, and quarterbacks often selected in early rounds and team defenses and kickers almost always selected in late rounds. The type of league may also influence draft strategy. In leagues with points per reception (PPR) scoring, running backs who often catch passes are considered more valuable than they would be in

8858-544: The opportunity to write about baseball-related material during the 1981 Major League Baseball strike , saying "the writers who were covering baseball had nothing to write about, so they began writing about the teams they had assembled in their own leagues. And that was what popularized it and spread it around very, very widely." Before the advent of the Internet , fantasy sports grew through print publications, such as magazines and newspapers. In 1987, Fantasy Football Index ,

8961-467: The owner who picks second in the odd rounds picks second to last in the even rounds, etc. in the interest of fairness. In an auction draft, each owner has a budget which he or she must use to purchase all of his or her players in an auction format. Owners take turns nominating players for open bid, and the owner who bids the highest on each player receives that player, reducing his or her remaining budget accordingly. One proposed advantage of auction drafts

9064-432: The parent company of CDM Sports. When CBC was denied a new licensing agreement with MLBAM (they had acquired the rights from the baseball players' association) for its fantasy baseball game, CBC filed suit. CBC argued that intellectual property laws and so-called "right of publicity" laws don't apply to the statistics used in fantasy sports. The FSTA filed an amicus curiae in support of CBC, also arguing that if MLBAM won

9167-480: The performance of their starting players' performances in NFL games. Players accumulate points based purely on their statistical output. This means that, for example, each real-life yard gained or touchdown scored correlates to a certain number of fantasy points. On the other hand, yards lost and turnovers result in negative fantasy points as well. While rare, it is possible for players to earn points for plays not traditionally associated with their position. For example,

9270-529: The performances of real athletes, they were not designed to be played out over the course of a season, nor did they take current statistics into account, relying instead on those from previous years. In the 1950s, Oakland, California businessman and future limited partner in the Oakland Raiders Wilfred "Bill" Winkenbach developed a fantasy golf game in which participants would select a roster of professional golfers and compare their scores at

9373-441: The performances of real-life MLB players. An example of such games was APBA , which was first released in 1951 and also contained cards of MLB players with in-game outcomes correlated to their stats from past seasons. Participants could compose fantasy teams from the cards and play against each other or recreate previous seasons using the statistics on the cards. Individual player cards and dice roll simulations were also emulated in

9476-446: The question would be 'Is (Antonio) Gates healthy? He’s on my fantasy team!'" While its precise impact is difficult to quantify, estimates of American workplace productivity lost due to fantasy football range from $ 6.5 billion to $ 17 billion annually. As of 2019, an estimated 7.5 million Americans play fantasy football at work. However, according to John Challenger, an executive at a research firm that produces an annual report on

9579-505: The right of publicity of the players involved. Since the player names were being used as a group, the players had assigned their publicity rights to the players association who then signed licensing deals. During the 1980s and 1990s many companies signed licensing deals with the player associations, but some companies did not. The issue came to a head with the lawsuit of Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM) , MLB's Internet company, vs. St. Louis-based CBC Distribution and Marketing Inc.,

9682-426: The season to compile their scores. Like the Baseball Seminar league, rather than using statistics for seasons whose outcomes were already known to simulate in-game outcomes, team owners would have to make predictions about the statistics that MLB players would accumulate during the upcoming season. Rotisserie baseball, nicknamed roto , proved to be popular despite the difficulties of compiling statistics by hand, which

9785-406: The starter's NFL team has a bye that week. Whether to sit or start a player is also based on strategic considerations, such as the player's past and expected performance, defensive matchups, and the team he is playing that week. Each team owner must designate which players from the overall roster will be starters each week. Only players in the starting lineup may earn fantasy points. The following

9888-471: The state's Racing and Gaming Commission position, the state's attorney general issued an opinion that daily fantasy sports was a skill game and thus permitted under state law. Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback signed legislation a month later authorizing fantasy gaming. The Attorneys General of West Virginia and Rhode Island have also issued opinions that clarified the legality of DFS and paid fantasy sports. As of January 2022, online fantasy sports are legal in 49 of

9991-433: The structure of each team's roster. Before each season, fantasy football leagues hold a draft in which each team drafts NFL players or, in the case of dynasty leagues, NFL rookies. These players are kept on the roster of the team that drafted them unless they are traded for other players or dropped, whereby they enter a pool of unowned players that any team may claim. The order of draft picks may be determined randomly or by

10094-479: The subject, measuring the precise impact of fantasy football on employers is difficult because "there is no way to determine how many people are managing their teams from work or how long they are spending on these activities." Researchers have noted that fantasy football's benefits towards motivation and workplace culture may offset these losses. "It might cost employers a little bit in lost productivity, but we think it makes up for it in spades in terms of building up

10197-434: Was an early drawback to participation. Okrent credits the idea's rapid spread to the fact that the initial league was created by sports journalists, telling Vanity Fair in 2008 that "most of us in the league were in the media, and we got a lot of press coverage that first season. The second season, there were rotisserie leagues in every Major League press box ." According to Okrent, rotisserie baseball afforded sportswriters

10300-405: Was enacted as part of the "American Values Agenda" of 2006 and was added as an amendment to the unrelated SAFE Port Act . The UIGEA generally prohibits funds transfers to businesses engaged in unlawful internet wagering. However the UIGEA does not itself define unlawful internet wagering, and expressly refrains from altering the legality of any underlying conduct other than funds transfers. While

10403-470: Was entirely dependent on real-life scoring. The original system rewarded 25 points for a touchdown pass, rush, or reception, 25 for a field goal, 10 for an extra point, and 200 for a kickoff, punt, or interception that was returned for a touchdown. As of 2015, the GOPPPL was still active and had maintained the original scoring system. In 1969, Andy Mousalimas, an original creator of GOPPPL and participant in

10506-567: Was formed in 2004 to represent the growing numbers of journalists covering fantasy sports exclusively. The Fantasy Sports Association was formed in 2006 as a rival trade group. However, the organization folded in 2010. According to the Fantasy Sports & Gaming Association (FSGA) , an estimated 62.5 million people played fantasy sports in the US and Canada in 2022. The FSGA estimated that 19% of American adults played fantasy sports in 2023, compared to 13% in 2014. A 2023 FSGA survey found that 64% of fantasy sports players were male, 48% were between

10609-734: Was to keep up with their fantasy teams. Fantasy participants are also reported to attend 0.22 to 0.57 more NFL games in person per season than non-fantasy players. The NFL entered into a reported five-year, $ 600 million deal with Sprint in 2006 that was driven at least in part by fantasy sports, allowing subscribers to draft and monitor their teams using their cellphones. In 2011, the NFL directed teams to show fantasy statistics during games on stadium video boards. "Hey, great game last week." "Yeah, but we lost." "But you threw five touchdowns, and that's all I need from you. @thrasherjt: you fucked me over in fantasy bro @k1: @thrasherjt I could give 2 shits. NFL players have displayed mixed reactions on

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