Heroin vs. Daily Fantasy Sports John Oliver spent almost 20 minutes of one of his Last Week Tonight episodes in November making a mockery of the recent phenomenon of daily fantasy sports (DFS) betting. Oliver lambasts the daily fantasy sports industry, namely FanDuel and DraftKings (the two daily fantasy sports leagues with the biggest name-recognition), for their dubious claims of legality and refusal to acknowledge the striking parallels between daily fantasy and gambling. One of Oliver’s jokes poked fun at the idea that DFS is similar to season-long fantasy: “it’s the same as season-long fantasy the way a nice mug of tea is the same as a nice baggie of heroin. Both give you a lovely warm feeling. One’s a little more intense.” All jokes …show more content…
Like other substances, death due to overdose is a concern with heroin. While gambling (and, by extension, DFS) can lead to devastating consequences such as financial ruin, there is no case of death due to a physiological response to an overdose in the behavior. Another factor in which heroin and DFS differ is the underlying motive that encourage people to begin indulging in the product. We think the intent behind DFS users’ decision to begin playing is primarily linked to the pursuit of money; DFS leagues like DraftKings and FanDuel target people who already love sports and entice them with dreams of big winnings. We believe heroin users are motivated by the physiological effects that the drug has on the body. Heroin is a powerful opiate that us chemically similar to endorphins – heroin users chase the potent high that the drug delivers either for its own sake or to temporarily deaden pain. One more critical difference between heroin and DFS is that DFS is socially acceptable while heroin is not. This key distinction may make DFS a lot more difficult to address. DFS is currently legal and anyone with funds and access to the World Wide Web can partake while heroin generally has to be bought in person from street vendors (illegally of …show more content…
The heroin-fueled rush we referred to above is due to morphine molecules that trick the brain’s endorphin-receptors. Heroin quickly becomes addictive because humans are pleasure-seeking organisms (hence why our body rewards us by releasing endorphins when we partake in behaviors such as exercise that aid our survival). Heroin provides its users with instant gratification. Similarly, DFS provides its users with instant gratification. The rise of the DFS format is significant because winners and losers are made daily. In the past, fantasy sports predominantly followed a weekly format. The daily format of DFS provides instant gratification and helps keep users