Real Money Fantasy Sports on Yahoo!

Yahoo has unveiled a retooled version of its fantasy sports mobile app that lets users wager real money daily and weekly against their friends and in bigger online tournaments. It seems that the company is looking to supplement its stagnant advertising business with a new foray into legal online gambling.

To generate income from the venture, Yahoo will keep about 10% of the entry fees paid by the players, this according to Ken Fuchs, Vice President of publisher products at Yahoo. The company said that said playing its Daily Fantasy Sports game is legal in 45 states, with just Iowa, Arizona, Washington, Montana and Louisiana not eligible.

The new game marks Yahoo’s attempt to make money from a booming industry that has taken advantage of loosening regulations around online wagering. Unlike poker and sports betting, fantasy sports are exempt from the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, the UIGEA, because they involve skill and not just chance, though some states still restrict these services.

For reference, the UIGEA is American legislation regulating online gambling, added as Title VIII to the SAFE Port Act. This last minute rider to the Port Act prohibits gambling businesses from “knowingly accepting payments in connection with the participation of another person in a bet or wager that involves the use of the Internet and that is unlawful under any federal or state law.”

This story on the new Yahoo fantasy sports mobile app, and changing attitudes toward gambling, originally appeared on the Wall Street Journal website.