John Oliver explains why daily fantasy sports is gambling, and why that matters

John Oliver explains daily fantasy sports

(Image credit: Last Week Tonight)

last updated 16 November 2015

The first thing John Oliver wants you to know about daily fantasy sports is that it isn't at all like your office's NCAA tournament bracket pool. The second thing, he said on Sunday's Last Week Tonight, is that one reason you see DraftKings and FanDuel ads on TV every 90 seconds is that major TV networks — including HBO's parent, Time Warner — have financial stakes in the companies, and the NFL and MLB have sponsorship deals with them. Also, they're addictive — "daily fantasy sports combine everything dudes love: Sports, money, and a lack of commitment," he said — and they are being shut down in some states because they are essentially unregulated gambling.

The daily fantasy sites go out of their way to argue that they're (legal) games of skill, not (illegal) games of chance, but everything they do points to gambling, including sponsoring poker tournaments. "They're basically saying, 'If you love poker, you'll love DraftKings — for completely unrelated reasons!'" Oliver said. They have been exploiting a legal loophole to stay open, but the fantasy is starting to wear off.

"Look, by any rational definition, daily fantasy is gambling — which isn't necessarily a bad thing, people clearly love it," Oliver said. But if America is going to "de facto legalize sports gambling," it should be on purpose, not because DraftKings and FanDuel "have somehow weaseled out a way to pretend they're not something that they clearly are." Unregulated gambling has victims, he added, and until the lawyers and politicians figure this out, DraftKings and FanDuel should at least make their ads "a little more honest." Naturally, Oliver made an example ad for them, and while it's typically funny, the part with Seth Rogen and Kathryn Hahn definitely throws some elbows. Watch below. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.