Fantasy Sports Not All Fun & Games For Some
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - When it comes to sports, sometimes the fantasy is better than the reality.
These days, tons of people participate in fantasy sports leagues. But for some, it's not all fun and games.
Fantasy sports leagues can get very real and very dangerous.
When a man finished last in his fantasy league, he had to wear a dress and let fellow players pelt him with tomatoes.
If only this was all that happened to fantasy football losers.
Duvalier Johnson is a typical fantasy sports player - young, male, with disposable income to spend on pay-to-play fantasy leagues.
He usually has eight or nine teams playing every day, spending $30 dollars a week to play, hoping to win and turn that $30 into a lot more.
"Yeah, I know a lot of people who spend a lot more money - some are really addicted to it," Johnson said "I know a guy that spends $200 to $300 a day on it."
"He's losing hundreds of dollars every day, every single day."
The growing addiction to fantasy sports is proving costly.
"He's losing hundreds of dollars every day, every single day," Johnson said. "I want to say he is down $10,000 or something like that."
There are now many pay sites where players pay to get in with the potential of winning big: cash payouts.
Many lose a fortune and end up talking to people like Psychotherapist Nancy Lantz.
"We have nothing telling people there is a downside to this. it only looks like it's fun," Lantz said.
Lantz is a psychotherapist specializing in gambling addictions.
Many who come to her are addicted to fantasy football and are losing big.
She says many players don't equate their fantasy football playing with gambling.
"It's much different because they can look at they are betting on sports or if they are betting at the casinos, That's gambling, but this is just entertainment and strategizing and it's a game. It's fun ," Lantz said.
These online pay-to-play leagues, where you bet on your own picks, are not considered gambling under federal law because there is skill involved.
However, in five states, state laws prohibit cash payouts for fantasy football.
Cecil Lammey is a fantasy football guru, hosting a radio show and dishing out tips to fantasy football players hoping to turn their hunches into cash.
He said the average player spends 20 hours a week researching players and teams.
"There have been marriages disrupted by fantasy football because it's such a time suck," Lammey said.
It may be called fantasy football, it may just be a pretend team, but experts say more and more people are finding there can be very real and devastating consequences.
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