Fantasy sports grow in popularity
Every Sunday during the NFL season, millions of Americans are glued to their television screens cheering for their teams: their real team and their fantasy team. Fantasy football gave fans a new way to experience the game, and in recent years, daily fantasy formats have surged to prominence.
Over the past few years, Daily Fantasy Services (DFS) have grown in popularity in the community through mediums like FanDuel and DraftKings.
Colin Huguelet, senior, said he only started recently using DFS’s but has high expectations for them.
“I strive for the big check; that’s my motto,” Huguelet said.
Brendan Glock, senior, said he also enjoys participating in DFS services.
In contrast to normal, season-long fantasy services, DFS’s focus solely on week-by-week, day-by-day lineups that one can replace frequently.
“You get a new lineup each week which is pretty cool,” Glock said. “It’s more enjoyable because if someone gets hurt, you are not stuck with them.”
Huguelet said the daily lineup makes it better in some ways, and worse in others.
“The way it’s set up it makes it easy to win,” Huguelet said. “But it’s also incredibly easy to lose. ”
With popularity comes scrutiny and controversy as these DFS mediums have fallen victim to countless lawsuits and accusations. More recently, DFS’s have been labeled as gambling, thus becoming unavailable for use in various states because of gambling laws.
“I think in the end you will see that if it seems too good to be true it probably is,” baseball coach John Meyer, language arts teacher, said. “I can’t understand how it is not gambling and I think it’s only a matter of time before the government gets involved.”
On Nov. 10, New York’s attorney general Eric Schneiderman outlawed the use of FanDuel and Draftkings, calling it the same as gambling.
“I think it is a good idea for it be outlawed in some states right now because it is a grey area and is very unregulated.”
Meyer also said if daily fantasy will be outlawed, it won’t be long before regular fantasy will be as well.
“I think that will eventually happen, but it will take time for that to come to fruition,” Meyer said. “I definitely think that it will get settled in court.”
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Alec Baris is the sports editor for the Marquette Messenger. This is Alec’s second year on the Messenger staff. Alec enjoys long walks on the beach,...
Shu Han, junior, is the online sports editor/social media editor for the Marquette Messenger. He's been a part of the staff since his junior year....
