Why is fantasy baseball sports legal and gambling not?

[Yellow Ledbetters]

As someone who plays fantasy sports and gambles on the games it seems extremely inconsistent and hypocritical. Success in both depends on being able to assess future outcomes better than others based on prior results. Don't get me wrong I'm glad it is legal because it would be hard to run "underground" high stakes leagues. I just think its intellectually dishonest to pretend fantasy sports isn't gambling.

[mdecav]

The difference is that in gambling, if you exclude the vig the odds of winning and losing are identical, similar to a roulette wheel with no 0 or 00.

In fantasy sports (or poker, as an other example) that is not the case. This is where skill comes into play and is distinct from pure luck. You can purposely fail at poker or NFBC if you chose to do so.

[Deadheadz]

You may already know, but for those who don't, the biggest opposition to online poker comes directly from the horse racing industry. Research it and you'll see that those in Congress who champion the anti-online gaming side are lobbied heavily by horse racing (which itself is available online).

Talk about hypocrisy.

[Yellow Ledbetters]

Do take it a step further what really infuriates me as a gambler is we have a state lottery in NC sanction by the government yet gambling is illegal. What skill is there is buying lottery tickets?

I understand the point made above to a certain extent although i would argue the gambling is a little more complex than roulette because of spreads. You must not simply analyze who will win but have an idea of by how much and look for soft lines.

But there is no justification for allowing a lottery and prohibiting gambling.

Also I think there is less of a differentiation between gambling and DFS than there is with season long fantasy sports.