Sharon Grigsby: Why incessantly advertised fantasy football sites remain legal, even if only for now

If you are like me and spent the last couple of weekends watching college and pro football, you could not miss the avalanche of commercials from DraftKings and FanDuel.

I’m clearly not the demographic for this industry. But the more I heard, especially the TV advertising with its eye-popping “YOU CAN WIN $75 MILLION THIS WEEK” kind of come-ons, the more unsettling it seemed.

So I decided to get a little smarter on this topic, and lucky you, I’ll share what I’ve learned as we all prepare to take to the couch for another football weekend.

My biggest question was how in the world this could be legal. The Washington Post tackled the question this week. The New York Times also has a full report this week, which includes some interesting angles related to the Cowboys getting in on the action.

The top line is this, from the Washington Post piece:

“Classified by law as a game of skill, not chance, the business has been deemed legal under a loophole in the federal ban on online gambling. But this year a dozen states including California, where one lawmaker has made demands for strict new licensing and regulations have considered legislation that would affect the online games.”

DraftKings’ chief executive, Jason Robins, doesn’t seem concerned in his remarks to the Post: For “anyone who has taken the time to understand the law as it relates to DraftKings’ offerings, and anyone who has seen the data ... on the skillfulness of the game, it’s really, honestly not a debate,” Robins said. “It’s clearly legal. And we have a team of great lawyers who watch everything we do.”

Robins’ operation is definitely spending the advertising dollars: $80 million since August 1. FanDuel spent $20 million during the same time. Together, the two operations ran 8,000 spots just last weekend. In fact, the Wall Street Journal asked whether, in fact, their plans will backfire as they bombard fans with too many ads. Social media apparently said YES in no uncertain terms.

For years, fantasy sports has been all about a season-long quest among a group of friends or co-workers with the promise of a trophy or cash prize at year’s end. The new fantasy-sports operations are all about instant gratification and promises of big, immediate rewards. This ad sums up a lot of my concerns:

Key copy points designed to hook the young guys:

1. It makes life INTERESTING.

2. It’s IMMEDIATE. There’s NO WAITING.

3. NO COMMITMENT.

4. From $35 to $2 million in a couple of days.

Money quote: “FanDuel is like the best adrenaline rush ever.”

You have to credit FanDuel and DraftKings, the biggest of the daily fantasy sports games operations. And while the NFL hasn’t cut a deal yet with either, it also has allowed several of its teams to get in on the action.

Keep in mind that this is the same NFL that canceled Tony Romo’s Fantasy Football Convention because it was planned for Vegas.

One thing’s clear from the number of lawmakers who have this week come out with calls to consider whether everything is above board with daily fantasy sports or whether there’s tax revenue in all this: Those 8,000 commercials caught their attention too. I wouldn’t count on that legal loophole lasting too much longer.

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