While scouring the news for interesting gambling stories we came across the story of a former Fidelity Investments account representative who was fired for participating in a fantasy football league. According to Fidelity, Cameron Pettigrew was in “violation of company gambling policy involving fantasy football.” But is he really violating it? Is fantasy betting in football really gambling?
This interesting article written by the Wall Street Journal’s Nano Di Fino discusses Pettigrew’s situation and fantasy football’s potential to be a “gateway” to other harder forms of gambling (similar to the drug war rhetoric that claimed smoking pot would lead people to do harder drugs such as heroin and cocaine). Unfortunately for Pettigrew, his previous two years of exemplary behavior counted for nothing once the Fidelity federales caught wind that he was managing his team on company time.
According to the article, Fidelity claims that fantasy football is a form of gambling (hence against company policy) and therefore it is not allowed during working hours. There may be some credence to this in that money is wagered in many fantasy leagues, and it took place during company hours but it leaves us wondering how serious a threat fantasy sports really are.
We come from a world linked to gambling, so it is hard for us to agree with the “gateway” theory that is suggested by several interview subjects in the article. This theory claims that fantasy sports are a gateway to harder forms of gambling like sports betting. As of this article, we know of no cases where a person has lost the ranch on their fantasy team and tried to win it back by gambling at higher stakes. In other words, as with drug propaganda, there is little proof that this link exists and if it does, the percentage is so small that no one knows about these people.
Although Pettigrew’s firing seems more like a cheap way to downsize than a legitimate claim of gambling on company time, Fidelity’s decision to lump fantasy football with gambling once again reminds us that people fear what they don’t understand.
Considering that fantasy football leagues can be used as a tool to build camaraderie and can be used to strengthen inter-office relationships, one has to wonder why Fidelity continues to view playing fantasy sports and fantasy betting as a threat instead of evolving with the times. People need a break during the day and if they want to spend their 15 minutes picking which player should start for his team, they should be allowed to do so. Now if they are running off to place a bet with a bookie during their break, that’s a completely different story.