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Daily Fantasy Sports: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

LastWeekTonight · 11.9M views · 2015-11-16 · 19:03

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Overview

John Oliver's Last Week Tonight segment on daily fantasy sports, arguing the sites are effectively gambling operations despite their claims. It mocks their advertising and the skill-versus-chance defence.

On Hacker News

HN uses it as the canonical link whenever daily fantasy sports comes up.

Recommended by 1 HN people across 1 months · HN mentions 2015–2021

Topics

Media, journalism & propagandaGames (other)Law, policing & justice
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fantasy sportsgamblingjohn oliverregulationadvertising

What people said

akerl_ · 2015-12 · Recommendation

Probably worth checking out [VIDEO] The relevant point being that not everybody believes they're a "game of skill" in the "skill vs. chance" slider which is relevant to the law. While there's no question that like every game, user actions (skill) can impact the outcome, how much it can impact the outcome is what determines whether something is classified as a game of skill or chance. Perhaps it's more clear if we say "a game of primarily skill" or "primarily chance". If daily fantasy sports is primarily skill-based, they can do it. If it's primarily chance-based, it's illegal in the US. Which is why they're pushing for it to be referred to as "skill-based".

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HenryBemis · 2021-03 · Reference

Perhaps this is something different, but I remember watching John Oliver - Last Week Tonight some years back and he kinda presented it as a gateway to gambling: [VIDEO] And a video (fake) ad with some nice comedians: [VIDEO]

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trequartista · 2016-01 · Reference

Here's John Oliver's take on the daily fantasy sports industry - [VIDEO] (probably some NSFW language)

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Sources

Video by LastWeekTonight, played through YouTube.

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