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Don’t Let The New FanDuel Sports Book Confuse You, DFS Isn’t Gambling

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leaders of an industry that has long claimed it isn’t gambling, are now diving headfirst into New Jersey’s new legal and regulated sports gambling market.

A move that comes as little surprise, considering most of what the top daily fantasy sports (DFS) operators said and did while several US states considered regulating that industry, featured a similar kind of hypocrisy.

New Jersey has battled major professional sports leagues and the NCAA in the courts for the right legalize sports betting since 2011.

On May 14 of this year, it finally got it. In a 6-3 decision, the US Supreme Court declared the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) unconstitutional. PASPA is the law that banned full-fledged sports betting almost everywhere outside of Nevada. The decision opened the door for all 50 states to legalize sports betting.

The NJ sports betting market

New Jersey lawmakers immediately began working on regulatory legislation to govern the state’s sports betting market. The legislature passed its regulatory sports betting bill on June 7. Gov. Phil Murphy is expected to sign the bill into law any day now, opening up the market.

In the meantime, casinos, racetracks, and sports betting operators that will run the industry have been forming alliances and figuring out how they’re going to do it all.

Monmouth Park racetrack and the soon-to-open Ocean Resort Casino have both teamed with British bookmaker William Hill to open sportsbooks and run online sports betting operations.

Golden Nugget Atlantic City has inked a sports betting deal with Churchill Downs and online sports betting technology company SBTech.

DFS operators get in the mix

And now, the country’s top DFS operators are getting in the mix.

Last week, DFS market leader DraftKings announced it is partnering with Resorts Casino Hotel to open a sportsbook on the property. The two will also launch a sports betting app along with a web-based sports betting platform.

This week, Betfair US announced it has reached a long-term agreement for retail and online and mobile sports betting with Meadowlands Racetrack. It also signed a similar deal with Tioga Downs racetrack and casino in New York, pending the passage of sports betting legislation in that state.

Betfair US is a subsidiary of Paddy Power Betfair, one of the largest publicly traded sports betting companies in the world. The company also recently announced it is combining its US operations with leading DFS company FanDuel.

It also runs the TVG online horse race wagering network in the US.

According to Betfair US CEO Kip Levin, FanDuel will be the company’s primary US brand. Which could mean a FanDuel-branded sportsbook opening at Meadowlands Racetrack before long.

Of course, that would mean two DFS operator-branded sportsbooks in NJ. Plus, one rather big move into the gambling industry for two companies who have always claimed the product they offered isn’t gambling at all.

WSOP NJ – Get $10 No Deposit

Is DFS gambling?

Lawmakers in various states across the country began looking at DFS legislation when the popularity of the activity suddenly boomed in 2015.

In an effort to shape the legislation, DFS operators told everyone who would listen that DFS isn’t gambling. They called it a game of skill in an effort to convince lawmakers it required only limited regulation.

Fantasy sports contests involve people competing against one another by drafting a team of pro athletes. The teams earn points based on the statistical performance of the drafted players in real-life sporting events. DFS contests usually take place over a single day. They run like poker tournaments. Participants buy into the contest. The top point-earning teams win the largest pieces of whatever prize pool is created from the buy-ins. Once the operator takes a cut.

Whether it requires certain skills to succeed or not doesn’t change the fact DFS is gambling. However, DraftKings and FanDuel have never be accused of letting the facts get in the way of a good argument.

Billion dollar industry?

The operators said millions were participating in paid-entry fantasy sports contests and putting billions of dollars on the line. Overstatements that quickly changed when legislators started looking at high licensing fees and tax rates.

Facing that threat, DFS operators started crying poor, claiming revenues were much smaller than that and the business was fragile. The story was suddenly that burdensome regulation, high tax rates, and licensing fees would sink them.

They touted DFS as a billion-dollar industry when they were pushing for legalization. Then they begged for mercy when legislators looked to treat it as such.

DFS operators have every right to jump into what appears to be the much more lucrative sports betting market. It will just be interesting to see if they finally admit they’ve been in gambling from the beginning. Or, will the hypocrisy continue?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The post Don’t Let The New FanDuel Sports Book Confuse You, DFS Isn’t Gambling appeared first on Play USA.

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Shaun Deeb Nearly Makes Two WSOP Final Tables At The Same Time

The first poker player who comes to mind at the mention of “double bagging” is Mike Leah.

Leah bagged chips in two WSOP tournaments on the same day each of the last two years. And as good as Leah is at multi-tabling live events, even he has failed to double-bag chips in multiple events coming back to play on Day 3.

We hadn’t found evidence that anyone accomplishing this feat … until now. Shaun Deeb went deep in two tournaments at the same time this week and just missed out on an opportunity to play two final tables on the same day.

Deeb takes his shot at WSOP history

Winning more than one bracelet during the WSOP is a remarkable feat on its own. Winning two in one day would be next to impossible.

Deeb was three-handed in Event #14: $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw and one of 18 players left in Event #13: $1,500 Big Blind Antes No-Limit Hold’em when action started at the Rio on Thursday.

On Day 2 of both events, Deeb had to run between the Amazon Room and Brasilia Room to play in both tournaments.

Knowing he was coming back to Day 3 in both, he asked if it was possible to position the two events near each other. The tournament staff accommodated him by moving one of the tables from the secondary feature table so Deeb wouldn’t have to run through the crowds to play a hand.

Unfortunately for Deeb, history was not in the cards this day. He was eliminated in third place in the 2-7 lowball for $36,330 and in 16th place in the big blind ante event for another $11,533.

Slow rolling the slow roller

It might come as no surprise that Deeb running deep in simultaneous events came with some controversy.

Deeb is known as a being a deliberate slow roller. It is seen as bad etiquette by most players and has not endeared Deeb to much of the poker community.

Daniel Ospina, the eventual winner of the 2-7 lowball event, apparently has some history with Deeb and there is no love lost between the tw.

Ospina had this to say in an interview with PokerNews:

Deeb has a reputation for slow-rolling people in the past and I have a bit of history with him in some other events we’ve played. I decided last night if the opportunity presented itself to slow roll him, I was definitely going to do it.

And the opportunity came for Ospina. Just a few hands into three-handed play, Ospina busted him in third place and slowly sent Deeb to rail.

Amusingly enough, Deeb was planning to slow roll Ospina before he got slow rolled.

Deeb cries foul for stalling while he is multi-tabling

Deeb understands his reputation comes with an obvious target on his back and he can certainly handle a slow roll.

His issue is when someone intentionally stalls play in order to reduce his equity in the other tournament.

The complaint was seen as hypocritical by many.

But there were just as many coming to his defense. There is a big difference between slow rolling and intentionally stalling to put Deeb at a disadvantage.

Regardless of what a player thinks about Deeb or even slow rolling, intentionally stalling play to put another player at a disadvantage is wrong.

The poker community is a small one. This twitter debate proves that. There are unspoken rules of the game that professionals adhere to – or at the very least try to. When a player breaks the rules, it will most certainly come back to haunt him.

Deeb’s feat of vying for two bracelets on the same day is really the story here. It is unfortunate that all the drama overshadowed it.

Lead image courtesy of PokerNews/YouTube

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