Is fantasy sports gaming a battle of wits and smarts that’s worthy of free-market protection? Or is it just dolled-up digital gambling that deserves being outlawed? Josh Adams, following the debate in Montgomery from 50 miles away, can speak to the questions as well as anyone in the country.
Adams, 38, who lives in Auburn, is already nationally known for his views on the matter.
In the past two years, both the New York Times and the PBS show “Frontline” have come to talk to Adams, a recovering gambling addict, featuring him in deeply-reported stories about fantasy sports gaming and the risky obsessions associated with it.
“I want people in Alabama to be able to play daily fantasy sports,” Adams, who works for an entertainment production company in Opelika, said in an interview this week with AL.com. “Most people can play responsibly.”
And for people who can’t play responsibly, like himself, Adams insists that the industry owes them forthright warnings to stay away, and to tell them where to find help.
In the Legislature, three bills are in play to legalize daily fantasy sports gaming by Alabama players. And the brains-vs.-luck debate is well under way.
“To me, I don’t see it as the same type of gambling that I’ve been opposed to in the past such as the casino-type of gambling,” said Sen. Tom Whatley, R-Auburn, who is sponsoring one of the bills. “It’s about the skills of picking teams that are playing once a day or a couple times a week.”
Countered Joe Godfrey, executive director of Alabama Citizens Action Program – an organization funded by Alabama churches that opposes gaming of any kind: “It’s nothing more than online casinos. They say it’s all skill. It’s not.”
Two big dogs
Online fantasy sports have soared in popularity in recent times, feeding off the glitz and constant television presence of high-flying professional sports teams.
Basically, the fantasy gamers create fictional teams of real players from real sports leagues. Winners are determined by statistical results from real games on the field.
Traditionally, much of the fantasy fun has been small-time stuff. A few co-workers and friends form leagues and take to website such as CBS Sportsline or ESPN to draft professional players to their fictional teams.
But starting six years ago, two big dogs with big ambitions trotted out: DraftKings and FanDuel, both based on the East Coast. They offered high-tech, fast-paced fantasy gaming through online portals that went on ’round-the-clock. Players could form teams, conduct drafts, change lineups, and compete in leagues. And the players could put their own dollars on the line, perhaps scooping up large cash payouts if their teams did well.
Last year, Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange – now a U.S. senator – declared such fantasy gaming to be illegal in the state and prohibited it effective last May 1. DrafKings and FanDuel, receiving cease-and-desist letters, agreed to comply.
Prospective Alabama players who log onto and register with FanDuel are greeted by the following message: “We’re sorry, but your current location prohibits you from making deposits or playing on FanDuel.”
Alabama’s new attorney general, Steve Marshall, shares the same concerns as Strange, said spokesman Mike Lewis.
To that end, the Attorney General’s Office is working with lawmakers sponsoring fantasy sports bills to “ensure that necessary regulatory and enforcement provisions are in place,” Lewis said. But he added, “The office has offered no opinion or assurance to any legislator that the proposed law could withstand a constitutional challenge.”
‘Line in the sand’
Eleven states have passed laws legalizing fantasy sports gaming, most within the past year. In another 20 states, like Alabama, lawmakers are considering the matter.
Among the three bills introduced in Alabama, the one that appears most likely to proceed, HB354, would establish a “Fantasy Sports Act.” As written, it’s similar in scope to a Mississippi bill that the state’s governor, Phil Byrant, signed into law earlier this month.
Under Alabama’s plan, a fantasy sports operator with more than 5,000 active player accounts would pay an initial registration fee of $85,000, while an operator with fewer than 5,000 active participants would pay an initial $10,000. A fantasy contest that has not previously operated in Alabama would pay a $5,000 fee.
Marc La Vorgna, a spokesman for both FanDuel and DrafKings, figures that the state would quickly earn $170,00 annually from fees paid by the two companies that he represents.
Also, HB354 would assess a 6 percent tax on a fantasy contest operator’s gross revenues for the preceding 12 months. Revenues from that tax would be funneled into the state’s General Fund, and the state estimates at least an additional $216,000 from the activity.
Alabama’s 6 percent rate would be similar to that in Tennessee and proposed in Georgia, but lower than the 8 percent in Mississippi, the 11.5 percent in Missouri and the 15.5 percent in New York.
Rep. Alan Boothe, R-Troy, HB354’s chief sponsor, could not be reached for comment. But other lawmakers said that constituents have been bending their ears with calls.
Said Alabama House Speaker Mac McCutcheon, R-Monrovia, “I’ve heard from many folks across the state that would like for us to address this issue. Whether or not this type of activity is gambling is a debate I expect the Legislature will have.”
Rep. Steve McMillan, R-Gulf Shores, said the majority of callers to his office favor the sports gaming. “The concerns are on the gaming aspects, but I want to find out more about it,” said McMillan. “Apparently, you have to concentrate on what you’re doing, so it’s not like sitting down and playing bingo.”
But Rep. Craig Ford, D-Gadsden, said that lawmakers will “draw an arbitrary line in the sand” if they open the way for fantasy gaming while keeping a lottery or casinos at arm’s length. Any argument that fantasy sports is somehow different from gambling “is just plain silly,” he said.
Ford said he believes Alabama should allow for fantasy sports. He also believes that lawmakers ought to “vote on the lottery” after shunning it during budget battles last fall.
“Legislators need to stop with this double standard,” said Ford. “After all, I’m sure all of them have retirement accounts invested in the stock market, and that’s a gamble. They want to argue that fantasy sports is different just because it involves some level of skill. But so does any sports betting. For that matter, so does playing poker and blackjack.”
‘Another level’
For Godfrey and his anti-gambling coalition, the Legislature’s foray into legalizing fantasy sports tops the lists of worries this session since no real lottery rumblings have been heard.
As the group’s website indicates, most pro-gambling bills are “on hold” until the Governor’s Advisory Council on Gaming, assembled last year, issues a final report and recommendations. Godfrey anticipates a “flurry of activity focused on gambling” during the Legislature’s last half of the ongoing regular session.
“This is the focus of attention … the daily fantasy sports,” said Godfrey. “There are a lot of legislators who keep saying, ‘I don’t think it’s gambling.’ And they don’t understand that this isn’t about family and friends. It’s another level and these big companies are pushing this.”
He continued, “No one is talking about individuals who play with family and friends in these season-long games. They are not in danger of losing their ability to do that. It’s these big companies pushing their way in … It’s predatory in nature.”
For Auburn’s Adams, it was the relentless presence of the online fantasy games that reawakened demons. He said he fell back into his gambling addiction.
Days at his former job were dominated by hours spent listening to fantasy sports talk radio, analyzing sports statistics and looking up player details. “I was never turned off, I was always tuned in,” said Adams, who’s now a regular at Gambler Anonymous meetings in the Auburn area.
“It just opened up all of the sensations and interests and obsessions that go along with sports analysis and game analysis and player analysis and you can get lost in that world and spend all day and all night on it,” he said. “There are apps on your phone and you can easily follow people on Twitter to find out how healthy Tom Brady’s ankle actually is.”
Adams said he has no problems with the state legalizing daily fantasy sports, so long as the industry lets in “some sunshine.”
That “sunshine” would be no-nonsense warnings for compulsive gamblers, and prominent 1-800-Gambler notices for gamers who realize that they’re sinking into addiction.
In fact, he said, it’s a “no-lose” proposition for movers-and-shakers like FanDuel and DraftKings. “I don’t think it makes cigarettes any less attractive that they put warnings on the box. I don’t think it makes alcohol any less attractive,” Adams said.
‘You can get better’
Matt King, the former chief financial officer with FanDuel, told PBS during last year’s “Frontline” special that his site’s users view the games as a challenging form of entertainment. He said, “Just like football or baseball, the more you practice, the better that you get.”
La Vorgna, the spokesman for FanDuel and DraftKings, emphasized the same point. To him, fantasy sports gaming is similar to a golf or fishing tournament.
“The competitor with the most skill is the one that is most likely to come out as the winner for that prize,” said La Vorgna. “You can get better at fantasy sports … I’ve been playing it for 15 years, and I’m much better than I was 15 years ago.”
He compared fantasy sports preparation with real-life preparation ahead of a professional sports draft.
“Have the (New England) Patriots been lucky the last 15 years?” La Vorgna said. “They are (winning) with all sorts of different players on their roster, but the skill of the people projecting the players to put them onto the roster is what differentiates the good teams from the bad teams. That’s’ what fantasy players do, they evaluate the players and decide which ones are on the roster.”
For now, the two companies do not support notices to warn away compulsive gamblers.
La Vorgna said there are already important safeguards in HB354 in Alabama. Among them is an age requirement (19 years old or older); a prohibition on contests based on the performances of participants at high school, collegiate or youth athletic events; a prohibition on game scores or point spreads from determining the winner; and restrictions on advertising and marketing directed toward minors.
Practical and common sense says this is a game of skill,” said La Vorgna. “The dominant factor in who wins is the skill of the player.”
