Bill going through Madison trying to legalize daily fantasy sports

Opponents say it’s gambling,
other say it’s skill

Those who write about daily fantasy sports will tell you right off the bet, it is not gambling.

Just about everybody else, including those betting on sites like Fanduel and Draft Kings, will tell you it most definitely is gambling.

A bill going through Madison is trying to legalize and regulate that industry that calls itself a game, not gambling.

“Well it clearly is gambling,” Lorie Pickens from Wisconsin Citizens Against Expanded Gambling said. “They’re trying to really skirt the law, and what’s outlined in the Constitution, by saying it’s a game of skill, but it definitely has all the components of gambling.”

The only way that fantasy sports sites that involve betting should be legal in Wisconsin, says Pickens, is if the state constitution gets changed to allow that form of gambling. 

“On any given day, an injury, a snowstorm, a ball bouncing strangely, could affect the result,” she said. “In this regard, placing a wager with a daily fantasy sports operator is very similar to placing a bet with a bookmaker.”

Many states are debating the legalization of online sports fantasy leagues, even while major sports leagues are signing major commercial deals with the biggest daily fantasy sites.

Pickens says it doesn’t matter if supporters say sites like Fan Duel and Draft Kings are not gambling. Of course they’re going to say that. They’re in support of the industry.

“Just because you say something isn’t gambling doesn’t make it so,” said Pickens, who is fresh off testimony against the fantasy sports betting bill.

In the effort to make it seem legal, Pickens says, they’re trying to redefine those sites as games of skill.

Far from it, she claims: “It has considerations. It has a prize. And it has chance. Lot of chance.”