Have fantasy sports massively impacted traditional gambling?
Some may say that fantasy sports have pulled in more sports fans and new gamblers. Fantasy sports is kind of like a softer introduction to traditional betting scene allowing you to focus on data and statistics which you can use in traditional betting. The benefit here is you do not even need to risk real money in fantasy sports.
But the question is, do fantasy sports draw away people from traditional gambling? Fantasy sports may be seen as a better alternative as you can make up your own teams and play manager. Another question people ask is whether what would fantasy sports be considered as... gambling or gaming?
There were always prediction pools and websites, but it seems the last few years at least a couple major players have emerged in this space who have crushed competitors with the scale of data points and sports available. They have been able to monetize the platforms effectively and the fact they're able to channel serious gamblers to bookmakers, while also monetizing peer to peer betting, has made them into quite profitable operations. If there's money involved and you compete against other players prediction skills, it's definitely gambling. If no money is involved I'd suggest it's more like a fun game between friends to get to number 1 on the leaderboard.