LastWeekTonight
1 HN recommender · recommended in 3 months, 2015–2021
19:03 · 12M views · Nov 16, 2015
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.
HN uses it as the canonical link whenever daily fantasy sports comes up.
4 comments from Hacker News
Probably worth checking out this 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".
Some questionable processors will step in. Stuff will get shut down, money will be frozen in accounts. This is online poker all over again. I think DFS has better chances of survival because they have some strong deals with people that know how to move and shake in Washington (NFL says hi). And of course this link (John Oliver) needs to be posted eventually when discussing anything DFS related: this video
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: this video And a video (fake) ad with some nice comedians: this video
Here's John Oliver's take on the daily fantasy sports industry - this video (probably some NSFW language)