Public Gaming Magazine November-December 2015

18 / 60

Barring any additional fallout from the scan-
dals around Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) that
emerged earlier this month, the proportion of
U.S. adults who play on sites such as FanDuel.
com and during the NFL 2015-
16 season could soon rival those who play in
traditional Fantasy Football leagues. In a new
poll released by Leger, The Research Intelligence
Group, 15% of U.S. Adults claim to have played
on DFS sites such as DraftKings or FanDuel this
season, narrowly behind the 17% who report
playing in a regular, traditional Fantasy Football
(FF) league (such as those played on ,
Yahoo, , etc.) this season.
“The onslaught of advertising by both FanDu-
el and DraftKings seems to be paying off in both
DFS brand awareness as well as participation,”
said Lance Henik, Senior Account Manager at
Leger. “Moreover, the results of our latest poll
show that room for growth in DFS participation
continues to exist, despite the controversy around
the ‘Coke and Pepsi’ of the DFS Industry reach-
ing new heights this October.”
According to the 2006Unlawful Internet Gam-
bling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), a law that was
designed to prevent gambling over the Internet,
DFS was clarified to be a game of skill and there-
fore is not considered gambling. Despite this, the
Leger October 2015 poll shows more than one in
four (28%) adults overall consider DFS play at
sites such as DraftKings or FanDuel, as gambling.
The perception of Daily Fantasy Sports as gam-
bling increases dramatically among DFS players,
as more than four in five (85%) who play DFS
overall consider their participation as gambling.
Perhaps more surprising is the fact that a signifi-
cantly higher proportion of adults overall (39%)
consider ‘regular’ Fantasy Sports (such as Fantasy
Football, Fantasy Baseball, etc.) as gambling when
compared to the daily version. “The general knowl-
edge and experience, direct or otherwise, around
the ‘traditional’ Fantasy Football league casts a
wider net than DFS,” said Henik. “While players
of Fantasy Football and/or DFS consider either
activity as gambling; there are also more conversa-
tions witnessed among colleagues, friends, family,
etc., around Fantasy Football leagues thanDFS, the
latter of which tends to be an individual activity.”
Public perception around DFS seems to be
impacted by the employee betting scandal un-
covered this month that prompted investiga-
tions from the New York Attorney General and
the FBI. Overall, 40% of US adults do not think
employees of companies that run daily or weekly
fantasy sports websites such as FanDuel or Draft-
Kings should be allowed to play daily/weekly fan-
tasy games, with another quarter (24%) unsure.
This is in direct contrast with the perception
of DFS among its players. According to the Leger
October 2015 poll, nearly three-quarters (73%)
DFS players think employees of these companies
should be allowed to play daily/weekly fantasy
games. Furthermore, nearly half (45%) think
employees should be allowed to play regardless
of whether they are employed by the same site
(28% think they should be allowed to play, but
at a different site). “By and large, DFS players are
seemingly unmoved by this scandal,” said Henik.
“Despite reports of fewer DFS entry fees over the
past few weeks, the impact on play is nowhere
near the extent experienced by the online poker
sites a few years ago, at least in the short term.”
Further illustrating the strength of DFS play
in spite of the scandal this month is the room for
growth that still exists for new DFS players this
season. According to Leger, 9% of current non-
players claim they are either “extremely likely,” or
“very likely” to play on a DFS site such as FanDuel
or DraftKings this season, with 4% stating ‘ex-
tremely likely.’ If this increase in player penetration
happens, DFS play could well surpass convention-
al FF league play by the end of the NFL season.
However, the barriers to DFS entry are start-
ing to form. The state of Nevada ruled last week
that participation in DFS falls into the state’s
definition of gambling, joining Arizona, Iowa,
Louisiana, Montana and Washington as states
that prohibit this activity. Around the same time,
the NCAA notified executives from DraftKings
and FanDuel it has banned advertising from the
two sites during NCAA championship events,
citing its long-standing advertising policy against
sports wagering entities.
Regardless, play of both regular fantasy football
and DFS is at 28% for both forms among young-
er Millennials (18–29 year olds). However, a gap
exists between the older Millennial/younger Gen-
eration X group, those between 30–39 years age,
who played DFS (26%) and playing FF (30%).
Finally, Leger’s research also shows that poten-
tial players aged 30–39 are more than four times
as likely as their younger peers to cite a strong
likelihood (top box % intent) to play DFS this
season. With this in mind, where pundits may
have believed the younger Millennials represent
any growth in DFS play for the rest of the NFL
season, it may just be that the growth could come
from their slightly older counterparts. ■
Daily
Fantasy
Sports
Remain
Popular
Despite
Scandal,
Government
Inquiries
Methodology for analyses
and data for Leger article
on pages 16 & 18:
The survey was conducted online
with 1,004 respondents,
18 years of age or older,
among the U.S. population
from October 15th through
October 20th, 2015,
and was balanced/weighted
to statistically represent the country
by age, gender, ethnicity, and region.
Based on this sample size,
the results carry a margin of error
of approximately ± 3.1%
at the 95% confidence level.
18 // PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL // November/December 2015