Photo from: Pexels
Fantasy sports are for anyone willing to take a risk for the love of sports. They are online prediction games or betting groups with friends where you put together a virtual or fantasy team of real-life sports players. Everybody "manages" their team by adding, dropping, trading, and selling players to keep winning as you play against other "managers" and their teams. One can earn points based on real-life statistics of sports players and their matches in a sports season that are converted into fantasy points. The better a fantasy team and its players perform in real life, the higher one's fantasy points.
Everyone becomes invested in each sports match. You could never have considered following less important matches, or most sports matches, for that matter. But once you have a fantasy team, you can't watch a match without being on the edge of your seat - especially since one or more of your fantasy team players could be playing.
A Fantasy Sports Primer
Fantasy sports are all about getting by on your wits and sports knowledge for team pride and bragging rights. Everyone wants to compete and defeat their friendly league rivals (e.g., friends & family), making for a dynamic that makes fantasy sports an inherently social experience.
On History
One of the first major examples of fantasy sports started in the 1950s and 1960s when several fans touched upon an idea for fantasy baseball as it was quite popular during the time. Fans used to track their players' statistics in the beginning manually. During the 1990s, however, various websites began to offer paid automated statistics services.
Yahoo became the first major website to host fantasy leagues for free in 1999. As a result, the popularity of all fantasy sports, particularly football, has surged throughout the years. Moreover, most people now use free online platforms though premium paid platforms with extra features are still available.
The Most Popular Fantasy Sport
Almost every sport has its own "fantasy" way of play. Still, in the United States, fantasy football is where it's at - an estimated 30 million people played in the years before the pandemic. It has become evident that fantasy has thoroughly permeated football culture. There's even well-researched proof that it has been significantly driving up the popularity of sports leagues like the National Football League or the NFL. For example, did you know that fantasy football is the reason why football broadcasts are now covered with stats graphics? It's also why there's a hugely popular channel that just bounces live from touchdown to touchdown instead of showing a complete game.
Though the actual fantasy sports games are usually free to play, most fantasy sports leagues involve some money wagered at the start of the season and paid out to the champion at the season's end (much like games in Bet88 Philippines). For these reasons, there are certain sports associations that actively promote fantasy sports, even though it is a form of gambling. As a result, some sports stars report hearing more from fans about their fantasy sports impact than their real-life plays — and some sports stars also play fantasy sports themselves.
There is really no stopping fantasy sports. Even when American congressional legislation to restrict online gambling was passed in 2006 - legislators specifically made or wrote an exception for fantasy sports. Games like fantasy sports are for the people and fans who love their sports with a little more risk.
They bring much joy to gamers or players because of the more interactive role they play in betting as they're engaged with their chosen team and the sport in general. Anyone can utilize their general knowledge about any sport in managerial efforts for their fantasy team. You can be an active participant and, of course, must face certain consequences when you lose.
