PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - An Oregon resident has filed a class-action lawsuit against two daily fantasy sports sites, claiming the businesses are operating illegal online sports betting. According to documents obtained by KATU News, Polk County resident Brandon Peck filed the suit Monday on behalf of himself and more than 100 Oregon players who lost money in the past three years while placing bets through DraftKings and FanDuel. The lawsuit asks the court to halt the sites’ operations and have each business pay players back double the amount they lost.
So…let’s see if I have this straight before I get too much further:
- Boys decide to gamble their hard-earned money by playing online fantasy sports games.
- Boys discover that, unlike the unbridled success portrayed by gaming site commercials, it’s possible to lose a bunch of money.
- Boys see that the political and legal tide has turned against fantasy sports sites.
- Boys (and their lawyers) see opportunity for a payday, decide to play up their victimhood, and sue fantasy sports sites for taking their money.
- Boys are some of the same people who with no tracy of irony (or self-awareness) decry minorities, the poor, the ill, and/or the unemployed getting government handouts- “something for nothing.”
Does that sound about right?? ‘Cuz from where I’m sitting it certainly seems like a few gambling fools, no doubt prodded by lawyers, are thinking they’ve got a great chance of finally making a profit off their failed attempts to beat Lady Luck.
Of course, I’ll grant that these gambling fools might have an argument- IF they able to demonstrate that the fantasy sports sites somehow coerced them into participating in their games. Once they can demonstrate that someone held a gun to their heads as their fingers lingered over the keyboards of their laptops, I might begin to take them seriously. Until then, all I see is a gaggle of gambling fools who took their chances, lost…and now think they have a chance to manipulate the legal system into providing them a payday. That seems an awful lot like “something for nothing, don’tchathink?
Playing fantasy sports for money, whether online or with friends, is a form of gambling, which means that those taking part accept there are risks involved- chief among those risks is losing your money when the game doesn’t break in your direction. Regardless of your personal feelings about the moral quagmire surrounding legalized gambling, if you choose to participate, you also choose to accept the reality of the risk involved. If you can’t do that, you’re a crybaby and you’ve no business playing.
The suit, filed Monday, asks the court to halt the companies’ operations and have each business pay players back double the amount they’ve “wrongfully lost,” seeking more than $5 million.
The suit is the latest class-action suit filed against the daily fantasy sports websites. More than 30 have been filed in more than 10 states. They allege that the players were duped into participating in illegal gambling operations that gave an unfair advantage to their own employees who also participated in the daily competitions.
I’m not certain how Peck can credibly claim to have been “duped” into playing. Did someone hold a Glock to his temple? Perhaps they threatened his family unless he continued playing online fantasy sports games? Did they threaten to expose him to his employer? Seriously, how can someone possessed of free will claim to have been “duped” or “coerced” into playing online fantasy sports?
Did he lose so much money that he was embarrassed and decided filing suit and claiming victimhood was the only way he could hope to save face and avoid being held accountable for his poor decisions and misfortune?
Peck’s lawyer argues the games require very little to no skill, that the outcomes are determined largely by chance and “return casino-type ‘odds.’”
Many of the companies’ customers “lack even a rudimentary understanding of sports, or getting strategy in general” and yet place wagers on the two websites and “lose and win based on pure luck,” Peck’s lawyers wrote.
So Peck’s attorney is claiming that his client was too stupid to understand sports and even the most rudimentary aspects and realities of gambling? Did he ask his client to turn in his man card in an effort to lend credibility to the “I’m too stupid to gamble” argument?
Or did Peck fall victim to the ubiquitous TV ads with the testimonials of bros who’d made MILLIONS simply by being good at fantasy sports? Did he look at them and think, “Hey, if THEY can do it, why can’t I??” When he failed to duplicate such outrageous success, did he then think, “Hey, this game’s rigged!! I should be a millionaire by now!!”?
I guess this is where the “personal responsibility” generation runs into the “something for nothing” crowd and thinks, “MAN, I WANNA GET ME SOME OF THAT!!! I COULD BE RICH!!!” I wonder how many of these shining examples of “personal responsibility” are the same ones who get their panties in a wad over “free stuff” being given to the poor, the sick, and/or the unemployed?
WHY DO THEY GET FREE STUFF? THEY SHOULD GET RICH THE TIME-HONORED, OLD-FASHIONED WAY: SUE THE BASTARDS!!”
OK, so I don’t know the whole story; there’s undoubtedly more to it than I’m currently aware of, but to quote more than a few ESPN NFL commentators: “COME ON, MAN!!” You lost money gambling…which is what invariably happens to the vast majority of gamblers. YOU made the decision to gamble, so wouldn’t you think that taking responsibility for your (as it turns out, poor) decision-making would be the proper thing to do? Ah, but this is America, right? Who’s going to accept responsibility when you’re surrounded by lawyers telling you that it wasn’t your fault, and that the only thing that can assuage your pain is a large payday?
Man up. Stop playing the victim in the hope of getting paid. Accept responsibility for your stupidity and poor decision-making; it’s time to stop blaming others for your shortcomings. America wasn’t built on lawsuits brought by ambulance-chasing attorneys and their poor, pitiful, victimized clients who refuse to accept personal responsibility.
You blew. You made some poor decisions, and you lost money because of it. You have no right and even less justification for trying to hold others guilty for your failings. As for Brandon Peck, I hope he gets laughed out of court. He deserves nothing less.
