Fantasy Sports...

[Canon Shooter]

I've got a buddy who's really, really into fantasy football. He's never been able to explain his attraction to it.

Suffice it to say, it's never made a great deal of sense to me.

What's the allure of "fantasy" sports?

 

[Auld Phart]

The only fantasy sport I'm interested in is female mud wrestling.

 

[odanny]

I've got a buddy who's really, really into fantasy football. He's never been able to explain his attraction to it.

Suffice it to say, it's never made a great deal of sense to me.

What's the allure of "fantasy" sports?

The allure is making money, if by fantasy you mean making lineups and entering your lineups in tournaments on FanDuel, DraftKings, Yahoo, MGM, etc.

Last year I had a $3 bet win me $1500. I finished 18th out of around 100,000 entrants. Every Sunday there is a million dollar tournament, where betting $25 in the tournament gives you a chance (extremely slim one) of becoming a millionaire.

 

[Canon Shooter]

Last year I had a $3 bet win me $1500. I finished 18th out of around 100,000 entrants. Every Sunday there is a million dollar tournament, where betting $25 in the tournament gives you a chance (extremely slim one) of becoming a millionaire.

What are the odds of winning $1,500 on a $3 bet?

I understand why people go to Vegas, but the majority of those people always seem to walk away from Vegas with a lot less money than they went there with. My wife and I used to go, but we would only play the video poker machines at the bar. You drink for free as long as you're gambling and, if you only gamble what you can afford to lose, it can be a whole day's entertainment if you're playing on the nickel slot machine.

A friend of mine, now deceased, had a pretty significant gambling problem. When he won, life was grand. But when he lost, the effects were catastrophic.

Do people go overboard with fantasy sports?

 

[odanny]

What are the odds of winning $1,500 on a $3 bet?

Astronomical.

The most popular bets are probably 50/50's, where the top half of the field with the highest scores win. Your odds may be 50%, but the thing to remember is these sites are populated by professionals, guys who wager tens of thousands, or more than a hundred thousand, every weekend. Lots of those guys, but if you do your homework, you can beat them.

Lucky for me, gambling is legal in Illinois and I rarely do the fantasy side, I bet the Sportsbook now. I'm betting the line, the spread, individual performances, etc., etc.