It has taken me longer than it probably should have. I would see signs for something called DraftKings, and I would ignore them. I’m not the type of consumer whose attention is grabbed by an advertisement so I was never curious about what this DraftKings thing was about.
At some point along the way someone must have told me DraftKings had something to do with betting, of which I am not a fan. I always felt I worked too hard to make money to squander it by giving it away. I never even followed my father’s penchant for playing poker, and he was a winning, if conservative, poker player.
Eventually, I learned that DraftKings is a fantasy baseball league that used statistics of players from Major League Baseball rosters and could be played daily or on a long-term basis. I should add that the gambling aspect of it depends on one’s point of view.
Earlier this season MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred sent a memo to all 30 clubs, telling them players, managers, coaches, owners and front-office personnel were forbidden from participating in the daily fantasy baseball leagues that have sprouted on the Internet.
Manfred’s office, in fact, had reached an agreement with the Players Association in which they agreed that players would be barred from competing in the fantasy leagues.
Explaining why the union agreed to that stipulation, executive director Tony Clark told me Saturday, “Even though it’s not gambling under federal law, insiders should not be playing this game.”
In the meantime, MLB and its teams are deeply immersed in the financially explosive activity of the fantasy leagues through partnerships, sponsorships, advertising and stadium signage.
MLB, in fact, has been a minority owner of DraftKings since 2013 and enhanced its relationship each year since to the extent that DraftKings is the official daily fantasy league of Major League Baseball.
“In 2013 we did a sponsorship deal with them,” Bob Bowman, president of MLB business and media, said in a telephone interview Saturday. “In 2014 we did a week-long deal to make sure it was based on skill. This year we deepened our relationship. We had an outsider, MIT, make sure it was a game of skill.”
Skill and chance seem to be the critical issues that, under the law, determine if a venture is or is not gambling.
Asked last Friday if a DraftKings sign was in his team’s park, a high-ranking executive said, “DraftKings signs are at all stadiums. They’re everywhere, for baseball like every other sport. Not to capitalize on it would be foolish.”
The executive, a lawyer, said fantasy leagues are legal but, repeating my question, added, “Is it gambling? Of course it’s gambling. But you can’t fix anything. You get paid on how well you perform.”
A 2006 federal law prohibits sports gambling in 49 of the 50 states, Nevada being the exception. However, fantasy teams and leagues are exempt and do not fit the federal definition of gambling.
Fantasy sites are not small-time operations. DraftKings has spent many millions in forging partnerships with 27 MLB organizations. Missing are the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Seattle Mariners, whose states do not allow fantasy competition, and the Toronto Blue Jays, who live in another country.
DraftKings is the most ubiquitous fantasy site but by no means is it the only site that will take your money. FanDuel is said to be No. 2.
“Chris Prince from Detroit has won over $724,938!” FanDuel claims on its website, then presumably quotes Prince as saying, “Playing a game in one day and getting paid the same day is awesome.”
A recent comprehensive report in the Boston Globe by Bob Hohler said DraftKings, a Boston-based company, expects to pay out about $1.2 billion in prizes this year.
Commissioner Manfred declined a request for an interview for this column but on the subject of gambling vs. games has repeatedly made statements like this one: “We see the issue as the difference between fantasy, which is legal, and sports betting, which is not.”
That position demonstrates the same naïveté and shortsightedness that have always governed MLB’s attitude toward drugs and alcohol, long before Manfred: Drugs are illegal and will not be tolerated; players found using them will be disciplined. But alcohol is legal so alcoholic owners, who at times have been so drunk they have fallen down steps at owners meetings, can get as drunk as they want wherever they want and managers who are arrested for driving drunk don’t face internal discipline.
In the area of fantasy baseball leagues, Manfred is so smug walking the tightrope of legality and reaping DraftKings dollars that he ignores the reality and potential consequences of his stance.
Fay Vincent, who 25 years ago held the position Manfred holds, has a different view of fantasy leagues. He doesn’t let expedient excuses get in the way of what he sees as the concern. Manfred sees fantasy leagues producing revenue and attracting younger fans to baseball. Vincent, more sensitive to the perils of gambling, sees a potential threat to baseball and society. In a telephone interview Vincent said:
“You have to start with what is an ominous and overwhelming fact, that gambling has become a popular national pastime of the American public, which loves lotteries. Betting on sports events has become a way of life for many Americans.
“Two, the government can’t restrain such things. The federal government is trying to draw a line on whether to permit sports betting throughout the country.
“Three, when the politicians look at Illinois and they’re $9 billion in the hole, the state can’t print money so every state has to find a way to control spending.
“The governor of Illinois says ‘we can’t tax people any more so we’ll authorize more casinos.’ It’s a tax on poor people, who line up to pay it. We need the revenue and however dumb enough you are to give your money to the government, then we’ll give you back what we can.”
Vincent lives in Connecticut, which has two casinos, and said, “I see the buses go by here in the morning.”
“The country wants to be free to gamble, to bet,” he added. “These fantasies are a way for people to gamble. It’s clearly gambling, but authorities say it isn’t gambling. It’s a game of skill.”
Bowman, who probably deserves greater recognition than the former commissioner, Bud Selig, for the great growth of MLB revenue, firmly defended the view that the fantasy leagues are a game of skill and therefore legal.
People can feel the leagues are gambling, Bowman said, but to be gambling, “it has to be a game of chance. That’s what gambling is. Anything else is not gambling.”
Arnie Wexler doesn’t buy that. Wexler knows a thing or two about gambling. He’s been in gambling addiction recovery for 47 years.
“The forerunner to drug addiction is marijuana smoking,” Wexler told me. “The forerunner to betting is these fantasy leagues. Yesterday I’m at a 12-step meeting. People get up and say they got into gambling because of Internet gambling. Those fantasy ideas are going to create addicted gamblers, not everyone but a lot of them will be because they have the gene. We’ve created a nation of gamblers.
“Major League Baseball, the NCAA and the NBA are hypocritical. They’re against gambling, but all the stadiums have signs and everyone is involved with DraftKings.”
Representatives of DraftKings did not respond to multiple telephone calls and e-mail messages seeking comment.
Steve Wulf, on the other hand, called back. A magazine writer and editor, Wulf was an early participant in the Rotisserie League, the forerunner of today’s and any other fantasy leagues. The league began in 1980; Wulf said he joined in 1981.
“The game spread like Dutch elm disease,” Wulf wrote in a 2012 account of the league. “Murray Chass, esteemed New York Times baseball writer, labeled us ‘Baseball Boors,’ and called for the abolition of ‘the whole nonsensical exercise.’ We couldn’t have asked for better pub.”
MANFRED MEETS MANIFESTO
As readers of this site have figured out, I am a staunch supporter of diversity hiring in Major League Baseball. I have also been critical of MLB for what I have seen as a lackadaisical effort in its hiring of black and Latino general managers and managers, not to mention other front-office personnel.
It is only right, then, that I applaud Commissioner Rob Manfred for his initiative that he announced last week. I can only wish his announcement had come before, not after, posting of a column on this website three weeks ago with the headline “MLB, BOSS NEED MANFRED MANIFESTO.”
Last Thursday the commissioner’s office announced that it had hired a leadership search firm, Korn Ferry, to aid in the search for minority candidates for the positions of general manager, manager, assistant general manager, scouting director and player development director.
The news release said Korn Ferry will help prepare “qualified candidates” for interviews, assisting them in developing their resumes and interview skills.
“At the direction of MLB,” the release said, “Korn Ferry will give special emphasis to the preparation of minority and female candidates.” The firm, the release said, will provide clubs with materials on candidates ahead of their interviews.
“Korn Ferry will broaden the resources available to candidates for key positions in our game,” the release quoted Manfred as saying. “We are proudly a sport of inclusion, and we must continue to pursue and develop more opportunities for minorities and women throughout our game, both in senior and entry-level positions. Our policy on this vital issue will ensure that active searches of outside candidates for leadership positions will include strong minority and female representation.”
If I may be so bold, I would like to recommend a candidate for an interview for a front-office job. Robin Wallace is a member of the Major League Scouting Bureau, its only woman, and a lawyer in Newburyport, Mass. When I mentioned her in that column three weeks ago, MLB officials apparently wouldn’t let her talk to me.
YANKS TO HONOR A-ROD BUT NOT FOR THAT HIT
You might remember – how could you forget? – that when Alex Rodriguez matched Willie Mays with his 660th career home run earlier in the season, the New York Yankees refused to honor their agreement with him and pay him a $6 million marketing bonus, claiming his use of steroids and year-long suspension had undermined any feasible marketing opportunity.
Last week the Yankees announced that they will honor Rodriguez for his 3,000th hit. Does that plan indicate a change in the team’s attitude toward its designated hitter?
No, but what it could mean is that a $6 million bonus is not attached to the 3,000th hit.