FSTA Announces Fantasy Sports Control Agency

[Greg Ambrosius]

Ty, I certainly wasn't a fan of the WCOFB's wild pay structure, but sure I didn't think they would default in the winter of 2011. Show me someone who did think that. I mean, to this day I have no idea how they could have spent more than $1.5 million of prize money on other parts of their "business". It's insanity. And it's probably worse than that.

Not even the legal system was able to do justice to Jesse and Dustin or for the players. If the courts can't get that money back, the FSTA certainly couldn't either. Correct, there are companies in the FSTA that maybe even today will go bankrupt and yes they could default on prizes. There's no foolproof mechanism in our industry to prevent that, whether you're an FSTA member or not. Hopefully the FSCA or whatever regulatory body the states provide will force transparency to show that every pay-to-play operator has the funds to pay out the prizes in full.

We would welcome that. We try to be as transparent as possible with our dealings with our customers. The prize money is always there. So we'd welcome this type of regulation in our space and in the DFS space. It would be good for consumers.

Hope that helps.

[King of Queens]

but sure I didn't think they would default in the winter of 2011. Show me someone who did think that.

[fwicker]

[quote ][There's no foolproof mechanism in our industry to prevent that, whether you're an FSTA member or not./quote]

Escrow?

[Greg Ambrosius]

[There's no foolproof mechanism in our industry to prevent that, whether you're an FSTA member or not./quote]

Escrow?

Sure, but how is any trade organization going to make every pay-to-play game operator does that? A regulatory agency can do that and the FSTA is not a regulatory agency. The FSCA will be that regulatory arm and I would embrace such an idea if they say that must be done.

[fwicker]

fwicker wrote:

[There's no foolproof mechanism in our industry to prevent that, whether you're an FSTA member or not./quote]

Escrow?


Sure, but how is any trade organization going to make every pay-to-play game operator does that? A regulatory agency can do that and the FSTA is not a regulatory agency. The FSCA will be that regulatory arm and I would embrace such an idea if they say that must be done.

Greg, I was responding the the "no foolproof mechanism", part of that, not who would/should actualize it.

[Cocktails and Dreams]

As long as the fsta continues to allow members to screw people and not do a damn thing about it, I will continue to care and will continue to think they are more concerned about themselves. Heck many of them were happy wcoff screwed people so they lost competition. They won't admit it but it is true. So they really have no incentive to do anything about it. My bad for caring dough.

Sorry Chad, but who in the hell was HAPPY that WCOFF took more than $1.5 million out of consumers' hands? Are you saying I was happy that many of my customers were screwed in this same space? You think Dave and Alex were happy? Who?

It's crazy to say that. NOBODY was pleased by that black eye. They were the biggest pay-to-play single fantasy contest in the industry at that time. Yes, they were an FSTA member, but one which had paid prizes on time for 9 straight years. There were plenty of red flags around the business once they jumped into baseball, but the FSTA wasn't about to shut them down for that. What was needed is what the FSCA is requiring: A full audit of each company to ensure that prizes are set aside from business operations and that prize money is secured for consumers. Who wouldn't agree that' a plan like that is good for the industry?

It's easy to blame the FSTA for this, but consumers helped it along as well. Of the more than $1.5 million they owed players, almost half of it was from prize winnings that players rolled over for the next season. They trusted these guys to keep their money for the upcoming season even though you could easily do the math and see that they were losing six figures for two years in baseball and not selling out football for several years. Consumers should NOT have trusted these guys with their winnings in 2010 and 2011.

The blame is on Jesse and Dustin for screwing players out of more than $1.5 million. Plain and simple. It could have easily been prevented, but the FSTA couldn't have prevented it. Not then. Hopefully the current plan will expose anyone who doesn't have prize funds secured for consumers.

But HAPPY about what happened with the WCOFF? No way as this industry lost a lot of good customers through that B.S. and many of them will never trust anyone else in this space again. They are gone for good because of WCOFF.

No need for me to speculate on who is happy the WCOFF is not longer around. But it is pretty safe to say, there are plenty of people. While most of those people would have preferred that no so many people got screwed for large amounts, the fact is that would have been pretty tough to accomplish unless a bail out happened of some kind.

The bottom line from my point of view is that I don't respect the FSTA one bit. Even after all that WCOFF crap, they still did nothing to try and force members to be accountable for their practices. You keeping saying, nobody wanted that to happen. They why has no effort been put in since that time to try and put some regulations and accountability in place? Obviously, nobody cared very much. So sorry, if I consider the FSTA to be more of a circle jerk awards fest, than something that helps out the people that make the industry happen in the first place, the fantasy players. They seem to be the last ones considered by the FSTA. And I think that is unfortunate. While I obviously don't blame the FSTA for getting screwed by the WCOFF, I do feel they could have done more, and I feel they certainly should have tried to do more since.