Tenth International Conference on Sport & Society

Abstract

Several states have legalized sports betting following a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned a federal law. The court in Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association said that the statute violated states’ ability to allow gambling. The sports betting industry is expected to expand significantly, and the impact of sports betting on another growing industry, fantasy sports, is expected to be symbiotic. Specifically, this paper concludes that increased sports betting will yield increased fantasy sports participation, particularly for daily fantasy sports, known as DFS. The industry also can expect more crossover players, those who bet both on sports and play fantasy sports, a conclusion based on interviews with fantasy sports journalists who are considered industry experts. Overall participant knowledge for casual players, defined as those who play with limited time and skill, is expected to increase as information is distributed more widely. More allocation of fantasy sports journalism resources toward sports betting content was observed. Finally, research has shown complementary relationships between playing fantasy sports and interest in actual games, with a residual effect, according to industry leaders interviewed, being the ancillary business generated in support of sports betting and fantasy sports activities. This paper contributes to a growing body of scholarship on fantasy sports as business and as journalism.