Are Draftkings and Fanduel destined to repeat the fate of the online poker industry



Poker was huge. Money was flowing in from all over the world, and every venture capitalist worth his dime wanted a piece of some online card room to cash in on.

Poker was huge. Money was flowing in from all over the world, and every venture capitalist worth his dime wanted a piece of some online card room to cash in on the casual fans spending their hard-earned money going up against professionals, all from the comfort of their living rooms.

Nothing could stop poker, except poker. A few shady business deals involving some prominent pros at the biggest online sites helped create a huge scandal involving the specter of insider trading—or the online poker equivalent—which got the United States government to step in and shut the whole damn thing down.

It's been years since poker online was at its highest point, ruined by its own obsessive growth and questionable business practices, then stymied by government intrusion because those in charge could no longer be trusted with the public's well being.

An entire industry went flat in an instant. Someone at one of those card rooms still owes me $20, too.

What happens when DFS companies make the same mistakes, and fail to learn from what ruined the poker industry? What happens when the government shuts down DraftKings and FanDuel for similar reasons to why they shut down PokerStars, Full Tilt and Absolute Poker?

What happens when DFS gets hit with their own version of Black Friday?

Moreover, what does the poker industry think of this DFS boom, and potential doom? Are they jealous? Are they hoping the DFS scandals cools down, the government stays out of it and everyone realizes we're adults with our own mone precluding Americans from doing what we want with that money is ridiculous when we would happily allow you to tax our earnings online in exchange for the ability to get back a multi-million dollar industry you destroyed in 2011?

Is it that?

"It's weird," ESPN poker analyst and sports media critic Norman Chad told AA in a conversation last week. "With poker, people were engineers or lawyers or in med school and they all dropped out to play poker. Hilariously, now, poker pros—literally poker pros—are leaving poker to play daily fantasy."

Chad pointed out that several professionals were early investors in DraftKings, saying they "saw over the horizon the 'new big sexy' for them." Many poker players have switched to online fantasy as a means to make more money.

Noted poker author Ed Miller has shifted some of his focus to the DFS world, telling AA, "a clear subset of the poker community has jumped to DFS as the 'next big thing,' with a good number of the bigger players like rayofhope and Assani and SamENole and so forth coming from poker."

He pointed out that, despite some big-name gamblers moving from poker to DFS, he doesn't see "a ton of crossover," stating that most players in his circle aren't that interested in DFS.

"I'd say the interest in poker among DFS players is higher."

That doesn't bode well for either industry.

The idea that top players have left the poker world behind for DFS and other forms of online gambling may not bode well for the entire gambling world online. Players aren't in business to save an industry, they're in the business to make money however they can most efficiently and consistently do so. If it's poker five years ago and DFS now, in five years it might be something else.

As long as money can be won, professional gamblers will be there to win it.

"I joke about this," Chad told AA, "but daily fantasy will just eat through the economy. I know people will always find more money to gamble, whether it is sports betting, whether it's the lottery. No matter how much they lose they'll always find another nickel or dime under the cushion. Daily fantasy will take that last nickel or dime.

To view the complete story from awfulannouncing.com, click here.


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