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Right.
And Edelman's research traces this all the way back to Professor William Gamson in the 60s.
Academics basically paid a $10 fee to draft real world athletes based on stats.
Which sounds completely harmless, right? Like early on, we all thought it was just fun and games.
Oh, absolutely.
For decades, it was just a purely social endeavor.
You know, an activity between friends or a team bonding exercise at work that led to interesting water cooler conversations.
It was basically a friendly neighborhood book club.
Yeah.
It shifted from those local social bonds to these massive global commercial enterprises.
Oh, wow.
So you suddenly had instantaneous statistics and third-party services stepping in to collect participant fees worldwide.
Exactly.
And once millions of dollars start crossing state lines, well, federal regulators inevitably step in.
So the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, or UIGA, cracked down hard on online sportsbooks and poker.
Which essentially wiped out the entire online poker industry, right?
It did.
But crucially, it carved out fantasy sports offerings from the law, allowing it to continue to grow.
Wait, hold on.
They wiped out poker where participants actually calculate mathematical odds, but picking athletes on a screen was legally protected.
I know, it sounds crazy.
A full season was basically seen as neutralizing luck with long-term skill.
As long as it involved multiple real-world events, it was safe.
Right.
And Edelman's research traces this all the way back to Professor William Gamson in the 60s.
Academics basically paid a $10 fee to draft real world athletes based on stats.
Which sounds completely harmless, right? Like early on, we all thought it was just fun and games.
Oh, absolutely.
For decades, it was just a purely social endeavor.
You know, an activity between friends or a team bonding exercise at work that led to interesting water cooler conversations.
It was basically a friendly neighborhood book club.
Yeah.
It shifted from those local social bonds to these massive global commercial enterprises.
Oh, wow.
So you suddenly had instantaneous statistics and third-party services stepping in to collect participant fees worldwide.
Exactly.
And once millions of dollars start crossing state lines, well, federal regulators inevitably step in.
So the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, or UIGA, cracked down hard on online sportsbooks and poker.
Which essentially wiped out the entire online poker industry, right?
It did.
But crucially, it carved out fantasy sports offerings from the law, allowing it to continue to grow.
Wait, hold on.
They wiped out poker where participants actually calculate mathematical odds, but picking athletes on a screen was legally protected.
I know, it sounds crazy.
A full season was basically seen as neutralizing luck with long-term skill.
As long as it involved multiple real-world events, it was safe.
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