Daily Fantasy: State-Run Edition?

Soon, you may be able to gamble on fantasy sports without worrying about computer glitches or pesky investigations, unless the folks doing the investigating decide to investigate themselves. The state you live in may be about to bet that you’ll welcome that opportunity.

Fantasy sports gambling began as an innocent diversion. Lots of people still wager money on fantasy sports by creating leagues with their friends. It’s good fun. But it requires friends.

Soon, you may be able to gamble on fantasy sports without worrying about computer glitches or pesky investigations, unless the folks doing the investigating decide to investigate themselves.

DraftKings and FanDuel became big stories because a few months ago their advertising became ubiquitous. It was impossible to remain ignorant of them unless you never watched television and never happened to be on the street when a bus rolled by. The advertising blitz suggested that the companies were trying to squeeze every last dollar out of the largest possible clientele before various state and federal agencies tumbled to the scam and either shut it down, regulated it or made it their own.

In Massachusetts, the Director of the Lottery, Michael Sweeney, preparing to pursue the third alternative, has said regarding future gaming, “You need to know exactly what it is that is making the secret sauce work.” With respect to FanDuel and DraftKings, the brew consists of equal parts desperation and the happy delusion that it’s you who’ll be able to say with a smile, “I invested $20, and now I have $2 million.”

From his test kitchen, Mr. Sweeney also noted recently — with a smile, one imagines — that “daily fantasy players are younger than the aging lottery demographic.”

Translation: “Hook ‘em early and bleed ‘em dry, so we don’t have to raise the property taxes.”