I'm in the final but ineligible to win prize money

[ttmm 0]

I've been playing FF in multiple public CBS-sportsline leagues for years. Each year I win 1 or 2 championships (and get paid). This year, CBS ammended the fine print of their official rules to state that residents of Washington state can pay the entry fee to join money leagues, but they are not eligible to win any prizes. I guess CBS just pockets everyone's money if a WA resident wins the league. What a load of crap. To allow me to pay my enry fees without prominently warning me of this is despicable. I feel bad for the others in my leagues that I defeated for no reason. FU CBS!!!!!

 

[TheGambinoCrimeFamily 0]

that sucks

 

next year, join Real Time Fantasy Sports.

 

they have tons of drafts, trading and non-trading leagues, rules clearly stated, live online scoring

 

great site with excellent customer service. you send them a question via email, and they get back to you very quickly

 

ive been playing there for 4 years , baseball also.

 

ive been paid several times, and they pay fast

 

only thing that sucks, if you win more than $600 in a calendar year, they send your tax info to the IRS

 

other than that, great site !!!

[Evil Genius 0]

FU CBS!!!!!

 

 

Join a league with real people in your hometown. Start it yourself. Use the opportunity to create and sustain friendships and social contacts.

 

Redistribute all league monies to your friends and leaguemates, instead of half of it to CBS.

 

I love CBS, in terms of ease of use and aesthetic quality but !! if you are playing anything other than a Commissioner League, and paying more than $129 at the absolute max, they are ripping you off.

[Chronic Husker 85]

I would throw the game on principle.

[Teren 2]

Tell the guy your going against your situation if he cool about it bench your players tell him who you would play and add up the score from the stats yourself

[ttmm 0]

I would throw the game on principle.

 

Agreed. If I win, CBS keeps everyone's money. That ain't gonna happen... I'm benching Foster, Welker, etc for waiver wire turds.

 

I feel bad for the people who didn't read the CBS fine print, and are going to get blindsided by this BS when they try to collect their 1st place winnings.

[jgcrawfish 232]

Agreed. If I win, CBS keeps everyone's money. That ain't gonna happen... I'm benching Foster, Welker, etc for waiver wire turds.

 

I feel bad for the people who didn't read the CBS fine print, and are going to get blindsided by this BS when they try to collect their 1st place winnings.

 

So clarify for me...I'm assuming that you're in a league that the CBS collects all the payments for, it's not done by anyone in the league? As such, with the fine print...they simply won't pay out for people in WA? That sucks. Is there anything about getting "credits" going forward or anything? If not, I would arrange something with the guy I'm playing...a 50/50 split to throw the game and have him paypal or send you the money. No one loses that way except CBS. I'd also move my league from there.

[mobb_deep 917]

Isn't the real problem (besides the obvious of you not reading the rules) Washington and whatever dumb law forced CBS to do this? Write your local government and tell them you can spend your own damn money how ever you want.

 

ETA: I just noticed ESPN has a similar disclaimer.

 

http://games.espn.go.com/flb/resources/help/content?name=legal-restrictions

 

"IF YOU RESIDE IN AN INELIGIBLE STATE, YOU ARE PERMITTED TO MAKE A PURCHASE AND PLAY IN A PRIZE-ELIGIBLE LEAGUE, BUT YOU ARE NOT ELIGIBLE TO WIN ANY PRIZES LISTED HEREIN. THE INELIGIBLE STATES ARE: ARIZONA, IOWA, LOUISIANA, MARYLAND, MONTANA, NORTH DAKOTA, TENNESSEE, VERMOT AND WASHINGTON STATE."

[jgcrawfish 232]

I'll gladly set up a website that people can sign up for on which I'll claim their winnings for them, from an eligible state, for a mere % cut of the total.

[TimHauck 1,801]

lol at being able to pay to enter, but not win. that's like playing roulette and putting $100 on purple

[PATSSOX 22]

Im surprised they are allowed to do it anyway. Its technically gambling and with the government crack down on internet poker sites in the last year or two i think i would have read rules little more carefully before paying to play in some league

 

Sorry but dont think thats CBS's fault at all. Heck thats almost as bad as falling for one of those Nigerian Internet scams

[chroniciguana 13]

Im surprised they are allowed to do it anyway. Its technically gambling ...

 

Again, no it's not. The Internal Revenue Service issued an administrative ruling that fantasy football is not a game of chance, but rather a game of skill. As a result, the feds are out of the picture. States, however, can and obviously have taken an opposing view.

 

CBS and the other large services have the resources to challenge these state laws on grounds they violate the Interstate Commerce Clause. They won't. Why should they? And the NFL, which makes millions indirectly and directly from FF, isn't going to risk some U.S. district court reversing the IRS.

 

If I were in the OP's shoes, however, I would be tempted to shoot off a letter to CBS demanding payment, or a refund of that portion of the fee set aside for prize money. He won't, and the odds of this actually getting him his money are slim. But if 15 minutes and a stamp get you a hundred bucks or so ...

 

Edited to add that the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 that PATSSOX indirectly cited exempts fantasy sports from the law.

[zmanzzzz 1]

dont click on WA when asked your state of residence.

[mobb_deep 917]

Launder the money through one of us, not living in communist states (for a small fee, of course).

[seadog54 20]

No offense to the OP, but whoever plays these CBS premium games are seriously just giving away money to them.

 

Is what CBS Sportsline doing legal? They are like the mafia pocketing crazy amounts of profits during fantasy football season.

 

Buy in $40, total collect $480, payout $200, profits: $280 +58.3%

Buy in $100, total collect $1200, payout $600, profits: $600 +50%

Buy in $250, total collect $3000, payout $1600, profits: $1400 +46.6%

Buy in $500, total collect $6000, payout $3500, profits: $2500 +41.6%

 

EDIT: My calculations were wrong...

[PATSSOX 22]

Launder the money through one of us, not living in communist states (for a small fee, of course).

 

Yeah ill give you an address you can have your winnings sent to and i promise ill overnight you payment

[PATSSOX 22]

Again, no it's not. The Internal Revenue Service issued an administrative ruling that fantasy football is not a game of chance, but rather a game of skill. As a result, the feds are out of the picture. States, however, can and obviously have taken an opposing view.

 

CBS and the other large services have the resources to challenge these state laws on grounds they violate the Interstate Commerce Clause. They won't. Why should they? And the NFL, which makes millions indirectly and directly from FF, isn't going to risk some U.S. district court reversing the IRS.

 

If I were in the OP's shoes, however, I would be tempted to shoot off a letter to CBS demanding payment, or a refund of that portion of the fee set aside for prize money. He won't, and the odds of this actually getting him his money are slim. But if 15 minutes and a stamp get you a hundred bucks or so ...

 

Edited to add that the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 that PATSSOX indirectly cited exempts fantasy sports from the law.

 

I dont buy that one bit. So according to that poker should be legal as well. You can say the exact same thing about poker. Both poker and fantasy football take alot of skill and alot of chance. Poker is more about odds but still there is certainly alot of skill and maybe more than fantasy football.

[bjsteel 34]

No offense to the OP, but whoever plays these CBS premium games are seriously just giving away money to them.

 

Is what CBS Sportsline doing legal? They are like the mafia pocketing crazy amounts of profits during fantasy football season.

 

Buy in $40, total collect 480, payout $200, profits: +41.6%

Buy in $100, total collect $1200, payout $600, profits: +50%

Buy in $250, total collect $3000, payout $1600, profits: +53.3%

Buy in $500, total collect $6000, payout $3500, profits: +58.3%

 

This is why I don't play fantasy football at CBS anymore, a complete rip off (I only do the free leagues so I can have access to their info)!

 

I do still play fantasy baseball at CBS though, haven't found a good site that matches what they offer. I do both H2H and Roto...tried playing a Roto league at another site last year and it was brutal, will probably switch back to CBS this year.

[chroniciguana 13]

I dont buy that one bit. So according to that poker should be legal as well. You can say the exact same thing about poker. Both poker and fantasy football take alot of skill and alot of chance. Poker is more about odds but still there is certainly alot of skill and maybe more than fantasy football.

 

You're not buying what? If you're saying the IRS didn't make a determination and that the online gaming bill didn't exempt fantasy sports, you're wrong. You can dispute whether this should have been done. But that's what they done. Straight from the text:

 

(E) does not include —

 

(ix) participation in any fantasy or simulation sports game or educational game or contest in which (if the game or contest involves a team or teams) no fantasy or simulation sports team is based on the current membership of an actual team that is a member of an amateur or professional sports organization (as those terms are defined in section 3701 of title 28) and that meets the following conditions:

 

(I) All prizes and awards offered to winning participants are established and made known to the participants in advance of the game or contest and their value is not determined by the number of participants or the amount of any fees paid by those participants.

 

(II) All winning outcomes reflect the relative knowledge and skill of the participants and are determined predominantly by accumulated statistical results of the performance of individuals (athletes in the case of sports events) in multiple real world sporting or other events.

 

(III) No winning outcome is based— ''(aa) on the score, point-spread, or any performance or performances of any single real-world team or any combination of such teams; or ''(bb) solely on any single performance of an individual athlete in any single real-world sporting or other event.

 

Translation: Online fantasy football is legal.

[Stewburtx8 67]

You're not buying what? If you're saying the IRS didn't make a determination and that the online gaming bill didn't exempt fantasy sports, you're wrong. You can dispute whether this should have been done. But that's what they done. Straight from the text:

 

(E) does not include —

 

(ix) participation in any fantasy or simulation sports game or educational game or contest in which (if the game or contest involves a team or teams) no fantasy or simulation sports team is based on the current membership of an actual team that is a member of an amateur or professional sports organization (as those terms are defined in section 3701 of title 28) and that meets the following conditions:

 

(I) All prizes and awards offered to winning participants are established and made known to the participants in advance of the game or contest and their value is not determined by the number of participants or the amount of any fees paid by those participants.

 

(II) All winning outcomes reflect the relative knowledge and skill of the participants and are determined predominantly by accumulated statistical results of the performance of individuals (athletes in the case of sports events) in multiple real world sporting or other events.

 

(III) No winning outcome is based— ''(aa) on the score, point-spread, or any performance or performances of any single real-world team or any combination of such teams; or ''(bb) solely on any single performance of an individual athlete in any single real-world sporting or other event.

 

Translation: Online fantasy football is legal.

 

Fantasy football is completely legal under federal law. The problem is that some state laws have chosen to make their own rules on the subject.

 

I do agree with you PATSSOX that poker should not be considered a "game of chance" either. That's the problem with the UIGEA. It made accepting payments for "unlawful internet gambling" illegal but failed to define what was "unlawful gambling." The interpretation based on the Dominant Factor Test has pretty much been "games of skill" are lawful but "games of chance" are unlawful. If skill determines the outcome more than 50 percent of the time, then the action is legal. You could certainly argue that poker is absolutely a game of skill, maybe even more so than fantasy football. But my guess is the major sites, casinos, and NFL made sure there was an exemption for fantasy football.

[PATSSOX 22]

You're not buying what? If you're saying the IRS didn't make a determination and that the online gaming bill didn't exempt fantasy sports, you're wrong. You can dispute whether this should have been done. But that's what they done. Straight from the text:

 

Nothing that you said just that if that is why fantasy football is allowed then how the hell is poker not allowed

[chroniciguana 13]

Nothing that you said just that if that is why fantasy football is allowed then how the hell is poker not allowed

 

This is going to be hard to believe, but:

 

(Reuters) - National Football League teams have donated at least $1.4 million to politicians, parties, and committees since 2009, with about two-thirds of the cash going to Republicans, a study released on Friday showed. Link

[Thornton Melon 544]

Im surprised they are allowed to do it anyway. Its technically gambling and with the government crack down on internet poker sites in the last year or two i think i would have read rules little more carefully before paying to play in some league

 

Sorry but dont think thats CBS's fault at all. Heck thats almost as bad as falling for one of those Nigerian Internet scams

 

Those are scams?

[PATSSOX 22]

Those are scams?

 

I just happen to have a rich uncle in Bangladesh who just passed away and left me $121M but i need $25,000 to pay for the bank fees and i do not have it. If you will wire the money to me i will give you $50M

 

Please click here to collect your money

[teeitupforgolf 0]

Poker is not allowed because even though it is a game of skill the cards and hands that are generated are random. In fantasy football you know to some degree what you are getting when you draft and play a player. In online poker there is no way to tell if it is completely random and on the up and up. I have never seen anyone rig a fantasy league by adjusting what the players do, but it has happened to the online poker sites in regards to the supposed random playing of the cards.

[RenoKid 0]

How do they know you live in Washington State? Go change your address to some person you know in another State and have them send the check there..

[Thornton Melon 544]

I just happen to have a rich uncle in Bangladesh who just passed away and left me $121M but i need $25,000 to pay for the bank fees and i do not have it. If you will wire the money to me i will give you $50M

 

Please click here to collect your money

 

Link didn't work....you got a better one?

[beemo 0]

Paid sites should simply block you from registering. That's the problem I see with this. Fan Duel threw up a warning stating that I couldn't play since I live in one of the FF prohibited states. CBS, ESPN, and any others really need to do the same and call attention to the easily foreseeable problem before the person agrees to pay anyway just to play, even if it means losing out in the end.

[jerryskids 5,206]

THE INELIGIBLE STATES ARE: ARIZONA

 

WTF, when did my state turn commie?

 

Oh well, even though my money league is on ESPN, we don't tell them that. We collect all of the fees ourselves.

[BobSanders_33 127]

I live in Iowa which is also an ineligible state. Every major fantasy football pay site will show states they are not allowed to pay winnings. I don't know if your address is locked but if you attempt to change it to another person you know in a state where payment is allowed.