Fans of fantasy sports betting can hardly have missed the biggest news to rock the industry in a long time: the legislations proposed by at least 30 US states to regulate -or in some cases place an outright ban on- the activity.
Though the recent measures offered up by regulators in states such as Boston, Massachusetts has sent both fantasy sports betting firms and their patrons alike into something a tail spin lately, another argument exists that this should hardly come as much of a surprise at all.
Fuelling a Revolution
After all, for as long as there’s been gambling in the United States, there’s pretty much always been some form of authority imposing restrictions on what is -and isn’t- allowed. We’re talking way back in history here, right back to the late 1700s, when a 1769 levy imposed on lotteries by Britain proved to be one of the driving factors in the American Revolution.
Times may have moved on since then, but that hasn’t stopped American authorities doing their all to to limit access to legalised gambling, particularly when it comes to placing a wager on sports.
Finding an Audience
At time of writing, only four out of fifty US states (Delaware, Montana, Nevada, and Oregon) allow betting on actual sports games. As another post here on Daily Fantasy Sports recently pointed out, this has essentially paved the way for the fantasy sports market -hitherto untouched by state gambling laws- to turn a sizeable profit from a somewhat niche audience base.
Not that they’ll be able to do so for much longer if the new legislations do manage to make their way into power in states such as Massachusetts, Illinois, and New York. Yet whilst it may not be the biggest surprise in the world to see this happen, it does beg the question; is the United States falling behind when it comes to gambling regulations?
Global Popularity
It certainly seems that way. As betting on fantasy sports is becoming popular across the world, the United States may not be the only country on the planet looking to regulate it, but they’re certainly one of the only developed nations in the world offering up suggestions that the activity should be -if not outright banned- then so severely restricted that popular leagues lose most of their appeal among participants who enjoy playing safely and responsibly.
The good news, according to Rupert Cornwell of Washington at least, is that such legislations -along with plenty of other legal complications surrounding sports betting- may soon be coming to an end.
Time to Remove the Restrictions?
Writing for UK broadsheet newspaper The Independent, Cornwell discusses the laws that prohibit both online and offline sports betting, before going on to again note that -as a game of skill- fantasy sports betting gets a pass from acts such as the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.
The popularity resulting from this exemption, argues Cornwell, could well be the very thing that spearheads a revolution of the American sports betting and gambling laws.
Fantasy sports betting success -to the tune of $3bn in annual revenues, has proven that people are interested in gambling and, as we’ve seen time and time again with sports betting scandals like the 2007 NBA affair, those same people are always going to find a way to gamble whether it’s legal or not.
Is it not better then, asks Cornwell, to remove the ban on sports betting once and for all and stick with regulating an industry which in the United States currently lags far behind the rest of the world?