Because competing in daily fantasy baseball is like breathing to me, it didn't even cross my mind as I landed in Las Vegas this past Sunday night. I checked my DFS baseball lineups as soon as I could swipe my phone out of airplane mode, eager to see how my team was progressing.
Then, I saw the alert. In so many words, the message read "You can't play DFS in Nevada."
Granted, I was still able to check my lineups and keep up with their scoring over the course of the contest, but I worried how the next day would go when it came down to trying to set another lineup.
Monday morning came. Per usual, I did the prep and research for the upcoming games. Looked at the Vegas lines. Which, by the way, is weird looking up the odds for games when you're actually IN the city where the lines are made. Then, I sorted the players who I favored that day. Finally, I made the daily digital jaunt to the DFS sites on my phone to start to construct my masterpieces.
BLOCKED. The "You can't play DFS in Nevada," message made another unwelcomed cameo.
After a brief panic, I tried to find a work-around.
I realized that since my phone had the "location services" turned on, maybe I could just use my laptop to build the lineups. Eureka! I was able to set lineups and even join contests. I thought I was golden. I was like, "What are these people complaining about? This was easy to fix."
Then, Tuesday morning.
I went through the same process as before. Only this time I was denied. The DFS sites were now blocking my ability to join contests until I turned on the location of my laptop.
I'm in the gambling capital of the world - I noticed that Macau is considered the "gaming capital of the world," but Elvis didn't sing a song about Macau.
I digress.
I'm in the gambling capital of the world and I can't even place $2 on a one-day fantasy baseball lineup.
On the bright side, it is still Las Vegas. You can still use the advice from daily fantasy sports to place bets on the actual games.
For example, I was big on stacking Astros on Tuesday and even added some Rangers into the mix. The HOU/TEX game had the highest over/under on the board (nine total runs) and I liked the bats on both teams. So, the play would be to bet the over on the HOU/TEX game. Result: 12 total runs scored. Cha-ching!
While that could work for others in Nevada, the residents in Arizona, Hawai'i, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, New York, Texas, and Washington don't have that luxury.
So, DFS fans who are now living in restricted areas, I feel your pain and empathize. While I hope that the ban is eventually lifted, I also hope that people living in those blocked areas still find a way to use our daily fantasy baseball advice and apply it in creative ways.
Now, let me get back to building my DFS lineups...wait...<looks at phone>...damn.
Viva O-H-I-O.
