Daily Fantasy Sports has a fundamentally different relationship to chance than do season-long fantasy sports leagues.  Daily Fantasy Sports operates on a per-game basis. Therefore, on any given day an injury, a snowstorm, or a ball bouncing strangely could affect a Daily Fantasy Sports result.  In this regard, placing a wager with a Daily Fantasy Sports operator is very similar to placing a bet with a bookmaker. This legislation represents the largest expansion of gambling in Wisconsin’s history as it...

A Brief History of Gambling in Wisconsin Wisconsin’s legalized gambling began with the State sponsored lottery and the Legislature’s approval of dog racing. Soon afterward, the state’s Native American Tribes, which had been operating high stakes bingo parlors, entered casino gaming, having won federal government approval in the courts after Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. Gambling flourished, growing exponentially through the 1990s.  No one has more than a two hour drive to get to one of Wisconsin’s 22...

LEGISLATIVE MEMORANDUM   To:        Members, Wisconsin State Senate and Assembly From: Julaine K. Appling, President, Wisconsin Family Action               Lorri Pickens, Executive Director, Citizens Against Expanded Gambling Date:    September 11, 2017 Re:        LRB 2122 – Daily Fantasy Sports Registry, relating to: registration of fantasy contest operators, requiring the exercise of rule-making authority, and providing a penalty  ______________________________________________________________________ We are writing to urge you to not co-sponsor LRB...

MADISON – Citizens Against Expanded Gambling and Wisconsin Family Council are sponsoring educational forums across Wisconsin to highlight the dangers of legalizing Daily Fantasy Sports.  The first two forums will be held at the Charcoal Grill in Burlington, WI on Tuesday, January 24 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm, and the Sheboygan Pizza Ranch on February 2 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. Assembly Bill 800 from was introduced in the State Affairs committee on January 25, 2016. A hearing was scheduled...

According to a recent study by Wisconsin Public Research Institute, every Wisconsin resident is within a two-hour drive of a Native-American gaming facility.   The casino market in Wisconsin is saturated, and introducing a new casino into a saturated market has consequences both economic and social. In a saturated market, any new revenue that is generated by the new casino would in fact be taking away revenue, jobs, and any economic multipliers from other established casinos and their respective communities.  There...

As the nation’s annual April 15th tax filing deadline nears, one reason why we are paying more taxes for less government services than we should is because of regional casinos and lotteries. State governments have relentlessly pushed these extreme forms of gambling onto the public in a bid to collect more money. Yet a new report this week by the Rockefeller Institute of Government at SUNY Albany confirms what is becoming obvious to most Americans: “In the long-run, the growth...

Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) has been a highly debated topic in recent months.  Forbes reported that daily games were projected to generate $2.6 billion in entry fees alone in 2015 while only paying out around $1 billion in contest prizes.  More concerning, is that 80 percent of bettors will lose about half of their money. A few weeks ago, DraftKings, Inc. and FanDuel, Inc. lobbied the legislature to consider a bill that, if passed, would have made Daily Fantasy Sports...

Teenagers today have the world in the palm of their hands.  Literally.  Smart phones, laptops, tablets and any devices that access the internet makes just about anything in any part of the world at their disposal.  The good, the bad and the ugly. The internet exposes children to gambling well before they’re 18 – they encounter ads for gambling in emails, pop up ads and online advertising. These ads send the message that gambling is fun and exciting, that the...

TO: Chairman Swearingen and Members of State Affairs and Government Operations FR: Lorri Pickens, Citizens Against Expanded Gambling DATE: January 27, 2015 RE: Testimony Opposing AB 800 Thank you Chairman Swearingen and Members of State Affairs and Government Operations. My name is Lorri Pickens, and I am here on behalf of Citizens Against Expanded Gambling. Citizens Against Expanded Gambling is a group of concerned citizens, employers and community leaders who oppose the expansion of gambling in Wisconsin. Citizens Against Expanded Gambling represents...

Gambling is taking on a new flavor – daily fantasy sports (DFS) betting. It’s the latest trend sweeping the nation, and there is really big money on the line. According to some analysts, entry fees in daily fantasy sports will total $18 billion by 2020. Proponents of legalizing DFS gambling are trying to skirt the law altogether by seeking to define it in state statutes as a game of skill rather than a game of chance. One such proposal (AB...