Every morning at 8:30, Samantha Sebestyen, a Michigan State alumna who lives in East Lansing, decides which NHL players she wants on the ice tonight. Sebestyen is a part of two fantasy hockey leagues, and takes her role as general manager seriously. Her interest in fantasy sports is common; according to a study by the Fantasy Sports and Gaming Association, around 62.5 million people in the United States and Canada are involved in yearlong leagues.
“One of the leagues I decided to join because my college friends wanted to do something to keep connected and so it’s helped us to have something weekly to talk about and has kept us in contact past graduation,” Sebestyen, 22, said.
Fantasy sports, usually played online on popular sites such as ESPN or FanDuel, where players assemble virtual teams of real athletes. Players compete against one another based on the statistical performance of the athletes on their teams.
Sebestyen and her 11 friends decided on fantasy hockey because they enjoyed going to MSU hockey games as students, but she had not followed professional hockey. She now wants to attend a Red Wings game with her friends to watch Lucas Raymond and Jake Walman, two players on her fantasy team.
“I was initially a huge college hockey fan, but as I drafted my fantasy teams, it has made me a lot more invested. I’m tuning into a lot more professional NHL games just to see how the players are that are playing for my team,” she said.
Jack Spellman, a freshman management major at MSU, has been in a NFL fantasy football league with his family for seven years. Spellman is passionate about football, having played and worked in football in high school. It is also a good way for his family to compete against each other and enjoy their favorite sport.
“There is no punishment for our league,” he said. “The only reward is glory and holding it over everyone else until the next year,”
Spellman has his own method for making his fantasy picks over the years, trying to use any strategy to beat his family.
“I draft my team based on positions I would say. My method in the past was to go running back-heavy, but because the game has changed I try to target wide receivers first now. The best drafting method I would say is to pick wide receivers and then in the late rounds try to get rookies who have potential,” he said.
Spellman is a Packers fan, though he is from Nashville, Tennessee. His fandom started when he was five-years-old at a football practice.
“My dad took me to watch Vanderbilt's practice and then after the practice we met Jordan Rodgers [Aaron Rodgers’ younger brother],” Spellman said. “He told me I should watch his brother up in Green Bay. Ever since then, I have been a Packers fan.”
The Packers have been publicly owned since 1923, meaning fans can buy shares of the team. Spellman’s parents surprised him last Christmas with one share of the Packers, meaning Spellman is a minority owner, along with 538,966 other stockholders. He makes sure to draft at least one Packers player to his team.
“My favorite thing about fantasy is drafting players and then cheering for those players,” Spellman said.
While Sebestyen and Spellman’s fantasy leagues are competing for bragging rights and not for money, there are leagues where players pay an entry fee to compete for prizes or money. The Michigan Gaming Control Board passed a set of administrative rules on Oct. 11, 2023 to regulate fantasy systems and ensure fair, legal play.
Lisa Keith, a communications specialist for the Michigan Gaming Control Board, said the rules help define what is considered a fantasy contest and set standards for fair play.
“Some operators have been offering contests that appear to mimic proposition selection or certain types of sports wagering. Such offerings are now clearly prohibited by the newly promulgated fantasy contest rules,” she said.
There are certain criteria organizations must meet to be a fantasy contest operator and the operator must comply with all of the Fantasy Contest Consumer Protection Act (FCCPA) and the fantasy contest rules.
“A fantasy contest operator may only offer or conduct a fantasy contest that is based on an athletic event. The FCCPA defines an “athletic event” as a “real world professional, collegiate, or nationally recognized sports game, contest, or competition that involves the physical exertion and skill of the participating individual athletes, as to which each participant is physically present at the location in which the sports game, contest, or competition occurs, and the outcome of the sports game, contest, or competition is directly dependent on the performance of the participating athletes,” Keith said.
The Michigan Gaming Control Board’s mission is to protect people looking to game responsibly.
“As a regulatory agency, we strive to ensure the conduct of fair and honest gaming to protect the interests of the citizens of the state of Michigan. To that end, the agency offers information and resources on responsible gaming on our website at Michigan.gov/MGCB under the “Responsible Gaming” section. We have also created a website, DontRegretTheBet.org, that includes tips and information to help,” Keith said.
Josh Lutz, a junior marketing major, said that it’s important the Michigan Gaming Control Board is protecting bettors and making sure organizations are operating fairly so that when he can legally bet, he knows that the websites are credible.
“I’m not 21 yet,” Lutz said. “But when I turn 21, I’m planning on signing up for DraftKings, FanDuel, and all that so it’s important someone’s making sure they’re real organizations.”
Lutz manages seven fantasy sports teams; four NFL football, two NBA basketball, and one NHL hockey in different leagues with family and friends. His love of sports and his want to pursue a career in sports management got him involved in fantasy sports.
“I enjoy managing a team and trying to win with the team I selected,” Lutz said.
Lutz will turn 21 on New Year’s Eve and says he already knows what his first bet will be.
“I’ll bet Michigan to lose in the College Football Playoff,” he said.