A Gambler’s Game
For Caden Terchanik, a recent graduate from the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, sports serve as more than just a form of entertainment. While many fans watching a game worry about how it may affect a team’s season, he said his main concern is his bank account.
Terchanik gambles on individual sporting events and through fantasy-football websites. He plays daily games that allow users to pick a team every Sunday, and season-long fantasy games that require weekly adjustments. He said he finds more amusement and feels a greater sense of control with sports gambling as opposed to playing the lottery.
“I find scratch-offs way less entertaining,” he said. “I think they’re a little shady sometimes.”
Sports gambling does allow for making educated predictions on winning teams.
“I usually like to look at how they’ve been doing against the spread lately,” Terchanik said. He also looks at how teams have done in previous games.
According to ABC, Daily fantasy games have gained national attention after New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman claimed that they violate state gambling laws. Daily Fantasy websites such as DraftKings and FanDuel have disputed Scneiderman’s claim by stating that the games require skill and are not determined by chance.
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with daily fantasy because it’s technically a skill,” he said. “You really have to have a lot of football knowledge.”
