‘Of course it’s gambling’: CappedIn founder weighs in on daily fantasy sports

Last week, Nevada shut down fantasy sports betting sites DraftKings and FanDuel, declaring them illegal sports gambling, and requiring them to obtain gambling licenses. Now Delaware is also scrutinizing the sites to see if it should follow suit.
We decided to ask Shawn Lindsey, owner of Delaware-based sports social networking site CappedIn, what he predicts for the future of online sports gambling.
Nevada and Delaware are two of just a handful of states that permit sports betting. FanDuel and DraftKings have maintained that an exception for fantasy sports betting under the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 means their activities can’t be classified as gambling, since they involve skill and not chance.
Lindsey’s not sold on the “game of skill” defense.

I think Nevada is stepping in right now because they want the money … they want a piece of the pie.

“Of course it’s gambling,” he said. “They got in under a loophole which Nevada has now closed. I think Nevada is stepping in right now because they want the money … they want a piece of the pie. Obviously they’re OK with sports betting. They’re making a power move.”
For now, CappedIn doesn’t have a dog in the fight because it accepts no bets, has no advertising, and earns no revenue. In fact, Lindsey said it costs him about $50 each month to operate servers for the site, which allows users to make predictions and talk about Las Vegas sports odds — all for free.
But Lindsey said that’s OK, since he’s betting on the future.
“You can see where things are moving. Sports betting is going to be legal [everywhere] one day,” he said. “Not next year, or the year after that, but eventually, states are going to say, ‘People are betting on sports, let’s tax them, and let’s make money on it.'”
Now in its third year, CappedIn has had 1 million page views and has 40,000 unique users, Lindsey said. If and when online sports gambling becomes legal, he said, he’ll either start accepting bets or partner with an existing gambling site.
“Facebook didn’t have an ad on their site for seven or eight years. They had the thought of, ‘If we have a billion people using the site, we’re going to make money.’ Each one of my users is worth a lot in the future, when I decide to monetize it,” Lindsey said. “On a per-user basis, it’s a more lucrative group than people on Facebook … and the market is huge. FanDuel and DraftKings are taking in billions and billions of dollars.”
Even if he does get his wish of legalized sports betting, Lindsey won’t be a customer.
“I don’t bet on sports,” he said. “Mainly because I know people aren’t usually successful doing this. They lose money.”