The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA) specifically exempts fantasy sports games as considers them skill games. UIGEA reform defined fantasy sports as lawfully authorized online games with different outcome than the gambling games’ one. Fantasy sports sites offer players the possibility to win real money prizes. Fantasy sports rules are very easy to follow and allow the players to create their own fantasy sport teams with a fixed budget that the player will have to manage to hire new sports stars, in order for the team to get the best scores, meaning better prizes for the player. Fantasy sports games are offered in both daily and weekly contests, as well as in season-long events.
Most of the US states have considered fantasy sports a game of skills and therefore have not been included in the online gambling market; unfortunately, a few others have banned these companies, like the US states of Arizona, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana and Washington.
The Fantasy Sports Trade Association (FSTA) has publicly reported that more than 41 million of US and Canadian Americans play fantasy sports, a market able to generate 1.1 billion in revenue during 2013. Fantasy Sports games operators offer sports from the major sports leagues in the United States as well as the most relevant colleges’ sports leagues; however, the fantasy sports sites are also considering poker leagues and tournaments, now that the online gambling market is being developed in the main US states.
