It’s the championship week in Fantasy football, week 17 of the NFL season. You are down 4 points to your rival best friend. Todd Gurley and the Rams are at the 1 yard line. You need Todd to score this touchdown or else your dream of winning the championship goes down the drain. Gurley then gets the ball and scores you have won your fantasy league. You just won bragging rights and 100 bucks. Your friend on the other hand has lost 10 bucks and has nothing to look forward to other than next season. People who watch football and play fantasy football only care about the numbers their players put up. Nothing else matters to them.

Adults and kids have an addiction to fantasy football. It is just no one talks about this addiction because it’s such a problem and most people view this as a hobby instead of addiction. This is a real issue, kids are betting money with friends and losing tons of it every year in fantasy football. Adults are losing even more because they are willing to put more money into it and might have more interest in it.

There are fantasy football gambling websites that play a similar role in getting people to come back and spend their money,like a Vegas Casino. The thing you have to remember with gambling is that the house always wins. Fantasy football has changed the way people view the sport. People used to care about their favorite team and players. People now just cheer for their fantasy players even if they play their favorite team. The sport of football has changed the way people watch the sport. Nolan Flores is a Sophomore at GCHS and has been playing fantasy football for 4 years. This is a real problem with this addiction,people can’t live without fantasy football. Doesn’t that sound like an addiction to you?
When Nolan first started playing fantasy football it became the app he would open and use the most, whether it was to pick up a top player of the waiver wire or taking out a big player that was injured.
When he wakes up he would check fantasy football, when he gets on the bus he checks fantasy football, when he is in class he will check fantasy football. “I check fantasy football at least 20 times a day,when it’s game day, I check maybe 10 times a day,says Nolan. Nolan also says he usually puts 15 bucks into fantasy football every year. Which can turn into a $15 lost if he doesn’t win. “I don’t think I’ll ever stop playing fantasy football it’s too much fun” he says.

Adults have the same problem, but this addiction can become an even bigger problem, they take fantasy football to a whole other level. Adults will bet hundreds of dollars in the league to only come up short and lose it all and, wait til next year for their chance at glory. They can become more competitive than children in every aspect of fantasy football. Older people have more experience with football and have been in more competitive situations than children have been in.

This online gambling phenom is rapidly growing every year. More leagues are being made and more teams are being drafted every season. An article by “Nielsen” wrote an article on the growing number of adults playing fantasy football. The article reveals that 6.2% of the general adult population has played some kind of fantasy football in the last year. It increased from 8.6 million in 2012, and grew to 15.6 million in 2017. Young adult males make up 42% of the fantasy football base.

The increased interest in fantasy football has also increased the interest and a huge impact of the NFL. NFL fans used to mainly pay attention to the local games, and local teams. Now every game is crucial to a fans’ fantasy team.
People are watching football more and more now.Which makes the teams and games in other cities more valuable to the league. CNN did an article talking about the NFL renewing a contract with DirecTV to show the out of town games for an estimated, $1.5 billion a year. The NFL is capitalizing on the growth of fantasy football which might explain why they aren’t trying to address some of these issues that fantasy football is going through. A casino doesn’t care of you lose your money they only care about you coming back and spending more money.

The New York Times made an article on this topic about how football has changed from a sport to a Vegas Casino. The sport only cares about the money they are rolling in and how the fans perceive the sport. Fantasy football players only care how many points their players have and if they will beat their opponent. Football fans fall in love with football because of the physical nature of the game and the flashy moments. Fantasy football brings out the greedy side of you and how money clouds your values as a person and football fan.