A fantasy sport (also known as rotisserie, roto, or fairy-tale sport; or owner simulation) is a game where fantasy owners build a team that competes against other fantasy owners based on the statistics generated by individual players or teams of a professional sport. Probably the most common variant converts statistical performance into points that are compiled and totaled according to a roster selected by a manager that makes up a fantasy team. These point systems are typically simple enough to be manually calculated by a “league commissioner.” More complex variants use computer modeling of actual games based on statistical input generated by professional sports. In fantasy sports there is the ability to trade, cut, and sign players, like a real sports owner.
It’s estimated by the Fantasy Sports Trade Association that 19.4 million people age 12 and above in the U.S. and Canada play fantasy sports and 34.5 million people have ever played fantasy sports. A 2006 study showed 22 percent of U.S. adult males 18 to 49 years old, with Internet access, play fantasy sports. Fantasy Sports is estimated to have a $3-$4 Billion annual economic impact across the sports industry. Fantasy sports is also popular throughout the world with leagues for soccer (known as football outside of the United States), cricket and other non-U.S. based sports. [...]
Despite the economic instability, fantasy sports started to become a mainstream hobby. In 2002, the NFL found that average male surveyed, for example, spent 6.6 hours a week watching the NFL on TV; fantasy players surveyed said they watched 8.4 hours of NFL per week. “This is the first time we’ve been able to demonstrate specifically that fantasy play drives TV viewing,” said Chris Russo, the NFL’s senior vice president. The NFL began running promotional television ads for fantasy football featuring current players for the first time. Previously fantasy sports had largely been seen in a negative light by the major sports leagues.
Fantasy sports continued to grow with a 2003 FSTA survey showing 15 million people playing fantasy football and spending about $150 a year on average, making it a $1.5 billion industry. [...]
Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006
The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, which was an amendment to the larger and unrelated Safe Port Act, included “carve out” language that clarified the legality of fantasy sports. It was signed into law on October 13, 2006 by President George W. Bush. The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act makes transactions from banks or similar institutions to online gambling sites illegal, with the notable exceptions of fantasy sports, online lotteries and horse/harness racing.
The bill specifically exempts fantasy sports games, educational games, or any online contest that “has an outcome that reflects the relative knowledge of the participants, or their skill at physical reaction or physical manipulation (but not chance), and, in the case of a fantasy or simulation sports game, has an outcome that is determined predominantly by accumulated statistical results of sporting events, including any non-participant’s individual performances in such sporting events…” [...]
Criticism
Some sports writers criticize fantasy sports, especially those involving team sports, of focusing too much on statistics. A player on a real team might be a team player and help his/her team win championships, but in fantasy sports that team play may not matter as much as having good individual statistics.
There was a bill presented before Congress in 1999 that would have prevented public fantasy sports businesses, the contention being that fantasy sports is in fact a form of sports gambling. That bill failed, and eventually a ‘carve-out’ was created for the fantasy sports business. In 2006, the United States congress passed the “Security Port Act”, which prohibits credit card transactions and other electronic transfers to online gambling operators; the bill includes an exemption for fantasy sports.
Players who enjoy competing in fantasy sports leagues often do very well with sports related prediction games by using their team statistical knowledge to predict the outcome of a sporting event. [...]
Developing… (as would say our Deep Throats). 
