You have to put up with a lot to be a football fan. There’s the sinking feeling of watching your team fall to 4-5, the moral quandary of watching young men risk debilitating injury, the fact that no one seems to know what constitutes a legal catch. And all for what? Well, Super Bowl XLVIII was pretty awesome, but otherwise it can be rough.
Never more so than in 2015, the year that “daily fantasy sports” invaded our lives. For months we’ve been besieged by advertising for a pair of websites – Draft Kings and Fan Duel – begging us to wager money on online games that are Totally Not Gambling. The ads beckon from every corner of our TV screens. It’s enough to make you long for the simple discomfort of watching Cialis ads with your children.
The sites, where you compete for money with no government oversight, have now shockingly run into scandals and legal troubles. In our latest poll at HeraldNet.com, we asked what you think should be done about them. The result was a pretty even split:
Thirty-eight percent said to let them do business as they are, but that hasn’t exactly gone smoothly to date. Revelations surfaced that site employees allegedly used inside information to win big prizes, class-action lawsuits followed, and now New York is suing to rid itself of the sites.
Thirty-three percent said to outlaw the sites everywhere. That would bring everyone in line with our state, which has one of the strictest anti-Internet gambling laws in the country. Most online betting is a felony here, but wagering on horse races is OK. Perhaps those are considered short-term investments.
And 29 percent said to make them legal everywhere and regulate them. This seems like the sane solution, but there’s a downside. To hear it, send in the promo code ENDLESS ADS.
— Doug Parry, @parryracer
Next up, we want to know what you think about lawmakers’ options now that Tim Eyman’s latest anti-tax measure has passed.
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