fantasy sports news stories on Newser

Fidelity Fires Four Workers —Over Fantasy Football

Kevin Spak — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:37:34 CST

Fidelity Investment has fired four of its employees after discovering they were heading up dangerous gambling rings, also known as fantasy football leagues. In a nightmare scenario for guys everywhere, the commissioners of four office leagues were sacked recently, the Fort-Worth Star Telegram reports, after company officials intercepted some nefarious...

Yahoo Sues for Free Fantasy Football Stats

Rob Quinn — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 08:11:00 CDT

Yahoo has taken the NFL Players Association to court in a bid to use players' information for its online fantasy football game without paying royalties, CNET reports. Yahoo argues that since the players' names, biographies, and statistics are already in the public domain, it no longer needs to gain permission...

Feds Block Online Gambling

Peter Fearon — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 02:08:00 CST

The Treasury Department and Federal Reserve will effectively outlaw most forms of online gambling with new rules that bar banks and credit card companies from processing transactions related to internet betting. The banking and gaming industry and House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank oppose the new rules, reports the Wall...

Obama Scores in Fantasy Football

Rob Quinn — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 04:40:24 CDT

Barack Obama's too busy be a great fantasy football partner, but the man knows his stuff, writes Rick Reilly at ESPN. The candidate accepted Reilly's challenge to help him draft a team for a week in a fantasy football league and the sportswriter found him on the campaign bus poring...

Not Quite Main Street's Fantasy Football

Clay Dillow — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:28:01 CDT

While the world suffers through financial meltdown, some of the world’s wealthiest money managers are easing the mood by competing in one of Wall Street’s most exclusive boys clubs: A $1 million fantasy-football league. Hedge-fund titans predominate among owners, who pay $100,000 annually for their teams—and there’s a...

On Sports Exchange, 'Trade' Takes on New Meaning

Michael Roston — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:24:01 CDT

Trading baseball cards with your friends is so 20th century. A new website allows sports fans to trade shares in athletes and even teams, effectively wagering real money on the performance of pro and college athletes, reports Reuters. "I see the marketplace being enormous," says an early investor in the...

Fantasy Sports Ruling: Bet on Hypocrisy

Kevin Spak — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 21:39:18 CDT

Fantasy sports are A-OK with the Supreme Court and the US government—even though they’re essentially thinly disguised gambling games, writes Jacob Sullum of Reason Online. Many leagues openly include an entrance fee and a cash prize—which seems an awful lot like sports betting. But it’s not, the government...

Justices Don't Buy MLB's Fantasy Pitch

Nick McMaster — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 14:15:44 CDT

The Supreme Court refused today to hear an appeal by Major League Baseball against a ruling that allowed fantasy sports leagues to use real players' names and stats without paying a licensing fee, the Los Angeles Time s reports. MLB contended such leagues shouldn't "exploit players' identity for commercial gain;...

Free Agents Can Be Your Slump-Busters

Mike Buss — Sat, 24 May 2008 11:39:41 CDT

If your fantasy baseball squad is struggling, you can take the Jason Giambi approach and wear a gold thong to break out of your slump; or you can check out your league's free agents and get yourself a slump-buster in the form of a starting pitcher—like Darrell Rasner, for...