Our focus the past two weeks in AP Gov has been interest groups. When first posed with the task of writing another blog on interest groups, I wasn't sure where to look. To be honest, after a while of browsing the (boring) political and economic news articles, I gave myself a break and just read some articles for fun. The first one I came across was about daily fantasy sports being banned in New York. Then, as I was reading, an interest group appeared like manna from heaven.
Fantasy Sports for All is an interest group established to protect the rights of fantasy sports fans. The most recent attack on fantasy players' freedoms has come in the form of the New York Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman. On November 6th he placed a ban on daily fantasy sports sites on the grounds that they are a form of illegal gambling. Schneiderman also stated that "Daily fantasy sports are creating the same public health and economic concerns as other forms of gambling."
Then on November 10th, Fantasy Sports for All organized a protest outside of Schneider's office in Manhattan. There were 300 fans and employees of some of the fantasy sports sites in attendance. Some such sites as FanDuel (based in New York) and DraftKings (based in Boston) were there, and many of the protesters held signs with slogans like 'Bench Schneiderman', and 'Schneiderman should focus on real problems'. The fantasy sports players feel that their activities are legal, and that because they pay taxes and get 1099's on their money, they should be free to spend it on whatever they want, including more fantasy sports. Due to the ban, approximately 10% of FanDuel's users would be unable to participate. One argument FanDuel presented against Schneiderman was that up until very recently, New York had no problem with the fantasy teams. However, because, "the Attorney General now realized he could get himself some press coverage" FanDuel says that Schneiderman has attacked the sites for publicity.
And it is generating more attention for Eric Schneiderman (this blog has already mentioned his name 8 times). This issue has popped up as of late, and has only recently been generating such publicity. It was even mentioned in a GOP debate, when Jeb Bush was asked for his position on it. The members of Fantasy Sports for All, who have joined for purposive reasons, are very interested in this issue of daily fantasy sports. You can tell, because 300 were motivated to protest. (This is a perfect example of grassroots lobbying.) As a nation of joiners, it is not surprising that this group has generated so much interest. After all, it involves three things Americans love: money, sports, and arguing.
However, ideological interest groups, specifically those whose members have only purposive incentives for remaining members, tend to sputter out quickly. As the protesters were holding signs reading 'Schneiderman should focus on real problems', they themselves proclaimed this dispute over daily fantasy sports to be of marginal importance. In a year when either the bans have been lifted, stricter, more wide-spread legislation has been passed, or everyone forgets about it, the Fantasy Sports for All group will have little reason to remain in existence. In this case it will either have to keep riling people up about fantasy sports, or just accept it's demise.
Click here to read the article about it:
http://money.cnn.com/2015/11/13/news/fantasy-sports-protest-fanduel-draftkings/index.html?iid=SF_LN
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