Instant Alert: When it comes to Yahoo's daily fantasy sports, it doesn’t matter if you know what you’re doing

MANAGE SUBSCRIPTIONS   |   UNSUBSCRIBE   |   VIEW ONLINE   When it comes to Yahoo's daily fantasy sports, it doesn't matter if you know what you're doing by Matt Weinberger and Eugene Kim on Jan 3, 2016, 12:06 PM Advertisement Daily fantasy sports leagues had a big year in 2015. Companies like DraftKings and FanDuel showed that there's a huge audience for daily fantasy sports — and a lot of money to be made for the dedicated player. But there's a lot of controversy, too. For instance, New York and Nevada have actually banned DraftKings and FanDuel entirely, ruling that it was a form of gambling. FanDuel and DraftKings have pushed back, insisting that it's a skill-based game, but the future for daily fantasy sports remains hazy.  None of which has stopped Yahoo from stepping in with its own daily fantasy sports league, which has dragged it into the big controversy. In an effort to both investigate Yahoo's entry into the malestrom of debate, and to gauge just how much skill it takes to succeed at daily fantasy sports, we decided to give it a shot. Business Insider pitted reporters Eugene Kim, a big basketball fan, against Matt Weinberger, who knows basically nothing about the NBA, on December 30th, 2015.  It went a little off the rails. We lost a little cash, had a few laughs — and learned something important about daily fantasy sports. SEE ALSO: I just lost money on DraftKings, the $1 billion fantasy-sports site — and I'm probably never going back The way daily fantasy sports works is kind of weird. Like in a normal fantasy sports league, you pick a team of players, drawn from across the entire NBA. The better those players do, the more points they score. But unlike a season-long fantasy league, you can pick a new team every single day. This is why New York considers fantasy sports to be gambling: It means you get your payout the same day the game is played. It's a little too close to just betting on a game for the comfort of many legislators. And so we decided to see if Eugene, a big NBA fan, could top Matt, someone who knows practically nothing about basketball, at Yahoo's daily fantasy sports league. Depending who came out ahead, it would go a long way towards proving how much skill it takes. See the rest of the story at Business Insider   Share the latest business news with your network: Email sent to:   |   Manage your email preferences   |   Unsubscribe Terms of Service   |   Privacy Policy Business Insider. 150 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10011