Fantasy Football, Basketball, Hockey,
Golf, Soccer, Auto Racing, etc.
Radio Commentary, 90.7, 91.7 New Life FM, April 28, 2017 – By Sue Ella Deadwyler
On January 25th, Cedartown Representative Trey Kelley introduced H.B. 118 entitled, “Fantasy Contests Act,” so let me explain why I’m glad his bill did not pass.
DraftKings.com that was founded in Boston in 2012 quickly became a huge Daily Fantasy Sports site that paid $75 million in outside funding to gobble up two major competitors. DraftKings.com was so successful that the Wall Street Journal wrote about it, and so did theBoston Globe, Business Wire, Forbes, Tech Crunch, the New York Times and several others. Also, you might’ve noticed DraftKings [sic] ads on TV and radio.
Fantasy sports gambling began with the NFL but expanded into baseball, basketball, hockey, golf, soccer and auto racing. Players win REAL CASH PRIZES, and DraftKings proudly boasts of paying out $2 billion since it went into business. If $2 billion went to winners, think how much more than that DraftKings pocketed in a business that’s illegal in Georgia!
The Georgia Attorney General’s office declared that “fantasy sports constitutes illegal gambling and are not allowed under Georgia law.” Also, Congress voted overwhelmingly in 2006 to extend the federal interstate gambling ban to the internet. However, fantasy sports gambling has been shoved through a tiny loophole in the federal law and has become so popular that, today, the 50 million fantasy sports gamblers outnumber gamblers in Las Vegas! Continue reading