oh yeah, I still enjoy my fantasy leagues of 10 and 20+ years, and doing pools for March Madness and bowl games, but I see these as totally different — the appeal is following along as a group and having fun…sort of the opposite of these gambling apps

Same. I have three “bets” per year. Fantasy Baseball ($100), fantasy football ($100), March madness pool ($10). I expect to lose all $210. FF comes with beers and pizza at the draft and all three are more of a buy-in to the group chat than anything. Winning is more for the gloating than the $

I mean hell, I ate 36 eggs as a result of March Madness. So I know all about shitposting with friends and light gambling

yeah theres a difference between betting on sports and having money in pools/fantasy leagues and whatnot; thats just having skin in the game to be competitive

Some kids (12-13ish) and their fathers sat next to me one night at a Braves game. Kids were on PrizePicks the entire game. One kept saying that he was "technically" still up money-wise but it was clear these were little kids who were already addicted and I have no idea how they had legal accounts

I credit long-running no/low money stakes fantasy leagues as at least some of the reason I don't do any gambling. I learned in high school that the bragging rights (there was the year I drafted Kyle Korver for $1 and he was an all star) is worth more than money.