Philly newspaper first to offer for-cash fantasy sports

Peter Amsel
April 9, 2010
6 Comments

With newspapers everywhere trying to figure out ways to bolster their sagging revenues, the Philadelphia Inquirer has struck a deal with British firm FanDuel to provide cash-play fantasy sports on its website, Philly.com. This is the first time an American newspaper has taken this step into pseudo-gambling, but the Inquirer has traditionally been something of a maverick. They were one of the only major media outlets Stateside to publish the infamous Danish cartoons of the prophet Muhammad, a decision that garnered protests by hundreds of offended Muslims outside the Inquirer’s offices. Given the Catholic Church’s hyperbolic statements on the issue of gambling, will the Inquirer’s offices now face a siege by hundreds of aggrieved bishops, cardinals and nuns, all threatening to behead the paper’s sports editor? ‘What, these? They’re not swords, they’re giant crucifixes with pointy ends, that’s all.’ Read more.