Casino Parley

It's estimated by the Fantasy Sports Trade Association that 29.9 million people age 12 and above in the U.S. and Canada played fantasy sports in 2007[1]. A prior study by the FSTA showed 19.4 million people age 12 and above in the U.S. and Canada played fantasy sports in 2006 and 34.5 million people had ever played fantasy sports[2]. 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.[3] Fantasy sports is also popular http://www.fantasysportsday.com/affiliates throughout the world with leagues for soccer, Australian-rules football, cricket and other non-U.S. based sports.

The concept of picking players and running a contest based on their year-to-date stats has been around since shortly after World War II, but was never organized into a widespread hobby or formal business. In 1960, Harvard University sociologist William Gamson started the "Baseball Seminar" where colleagues would form rosters that earned points on the players' final standings in batting average, RBI, ERA and wins. [4] Gamson later brought the idea with him to the University of Michigan where some professors played the game. One professor playing the game was Bob Sklar, who taught an American Studies seminar which included Daniel Okrent, who learned of the game his professor played. [5] At around the same time a league from Glassboro State College also formed a similar baseball league and had its first draft in 1976.[6]