OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) – On the last weekday before the Super Bowl, legislators wearing Seattle Seahawks gear made noise over a bill to allow Washington state residents to legally play fantasy football.
The activity has become increasingly popular in recent years with an estimated 40 million players participating each NFL season, often for money.
There has been debate, however, over whether it should be considered illegal gambling, based on luck, or a game of skill, which rewards knowledge.
Fantasy sports leagues invite players to compete against one another by selecting athletes from a league-wide pool and tracking how well they play. If Seattle’s Marshawn Lynch has a big game, the fantasy football team manager who selected him will get a boost.
The federal government and 45 other states consider fantasy sports as legal games of skill. Washington, Louisiana, Montana, Iowa and Arizona – site of Super Bowl 49, where the defending champion Seahawks will face the New England Patriots on Sunday – all consider fantasy sports illegal.