
Fantasy sports leagues invite participants to create virtual teams of real professional players in different sports. Players compete against each other in different formats, and points are awarded based on how well virtual player selections perform in real live games. Once considered a fringe hobby, fantasy sports has become a multi-billion dollar business with similar corporate interests as real sports.
In North America, 58 million people participate in fantasy sports leagues, either with friends or in public online leagues. Mobile apps and websites allow participants to track their players’ performances, and the sport generates more than $18 billion in wagers each year. Interestingly, a recent study in MIT’s Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics Review found that fantasy gaming relies more on skill than chance or luck.