John Oliver rips apart Fantasy sports as online gambling

With the ban of both Draft Kings and FanDuel being allowed in New York and Nevada, both sites are put to the test as constitutes gambling opposed to skill based play.

With the rise in popularity of internet gambling and the crackdown from Congress on what constitutes online-gambling and simple skill based play, fantasy sports has become the newest way for internet based game sites to literally rake in millions all while bringing in all sorts of controversy.

Last Monday night,  John Oliver took some time to dissect why exactly fantasy sports is exactly like online gambling. And with Draft Kings and FanDuel currently being put to the test, we’re pretty sure both those sites will be hot under the collar as this segment really picks up steam. Check out that video below.

First, John Oliver pointed out quite succinctly that many large media networks and sports leagues have a vested interest in fantasy sports. NBC Sports, Fox, Comcast and Time Warner have all poured in millions of dollars in multi-year deals investing in FanDuel and the same thing can be said with Fox Sports and Draft Kings as well as 28 of the 32 NFL teams out there. Oliver wryly pointed out that Last Week Tonight, being an HBO segment, was somewhat brought to you by FanDuel.

It’s easy to draw the parallel as to why a major sports network and entertainment conglomerate might want to invest into a product that would potentially bring in more viewers to match-ups that wouldn’t particularly have a larger audience.

As a sidebar with Joe Namath defining both sites as a place where someone has to ‘pay to play’ and can potentially win money in the process, the question of whether either site is entertainment or gambling was brought up.

Both Nevada and New York have banned either site from their states but FanDuel and Draft Kings have clearly pointed out to the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act saying Congress has given them the right to operate as an exemption as their site is more a skill based game than chance.

Former precedents set out by online poker sites being banned in numerous states already have also further brought both sites into a somewhat similar limelight attracting both the same types of players and with a winning pattern having the majority of the earnings going to those adept at statistics, an attribute found on both types of games.

Finally Oliver gets to the cusp of the issue which is both sites trying to avoid state regulation which adds certain protections and regulations to protect people, to the detriment in profitability and ruined reputation of both those sites.

The segment finishes off with Last Week Tonight’s ad of their own featuring celebrities Seth Rogen, Mike Birbiglia, Kathern Han Adam Pally and a few other comedic stars.

This segment, like a lot of John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight’s segments, has spelled out in layman’s terms what fantasy sport sites are and why they’re doing what they’re doing when it comes to congress and certain states.

Since the ruling was brought out by Nevada and New York both FanDuel and Draft Kings have sued the New York Attorney General.

We’ll be keen to see which states follow suit as well in the coming weeks in banning or allowing either site.