With print medium becoming less and less desirable today thanks to the advent of many new mobile media reading devices, a large number of traditional print papers are looking at new ways to help foster reader interest in their services. One such way currently being pursued by the Philadelphia Inquirer is a recent partnership with British-owned FanDuel to bring online gambling into the equation.
Focused around the online craze of fantasy sports teams, the partnership between FanDuel and the Philadelphia Inquirer has brought about the website known as “Philly.com Instant Fantasy Games” to focus on the sports-related audiences amongst the paper’s readers. There individuals can go online and register in a daily competition for $5 and selects a team of their choice to play in a fantasy competition. Should their wager be successful they would have the chance to walk away at the end of the day with $90 of winning with the option to go back for more day after day.
While normally online gambling is considered illegal in the United States thanks to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 that prevents US residents from transferring funds to or receiving funds from online casino websites, many gambling activities such as sports betting or race wagering is not allowed. Within this window of allowance also resides fantasy sports leagues, meaning that any wagers placed on fantasy sports outcomes are both legal and acceptable according to the regulations imposed under the UIGEA.
Although there are still a number of groups opposing the online gambling restrictions created by the UIGEA in 2006, including Representative Barney Frank attempting to push for a bill to remove the UIGEA restrictions entirely, in the meantime the services offered by Philly.com are a fun, safe and legal alternative that can allow players to place wagers online without worrying about many of the restrictions normally affecting online gambling.
Should the Philadelphia Inquirer’s partnership with FanDuel turn out to be ultimately profitable a combination of online and offline media may very well become a basic business model for other journalism media to follow through on. Thus far the business has been relatively successful on a number of fronts and the newspaper has seen a regular growth of interest in both online and offline activities because of it, though whether or not this will still be so in the coming months or years – especially if the Representative Frank is successful in repealing the UIGEA restrictions – is still an issue that only time will tell.
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