Former poker coach wins $5 million in DFS Championship
Aaron "aejones" Jones wins $5 Million in the DraftKings Daily Fantasy Sports World Championship.
Ex poker pro and founder of poker coaching site LeggoPoker, Aaron Jones scooped the biggest money win of his life over the weekend when he claimed a cool $5m for topping the final table in an American Fantasy Football League tournament.
Jones, who took up poker at 17, claimed the biggest Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) prize ever, along with a championship belt, after taking the final in which an incredible $15m was on offer. Jones was supported by other poker players who have made the switch to DFS, Assani Fisher, Dan Smith and Steven Silverman.
More used to winning at poker, Jones took up DFS after selling LeggoPoker to Phil Ivey in 2013, since when the site has been rebranded as Ivey League.
Daily Fantasy Sports
Working in a similar format to traditional fantasy football, DFS is an ongoing game in which players can sign up and pick a team for just a week or even a day, without the need for a season long commitment. While it is a popular variant, the game has led to calls for DFS to be classified as gambling due to enjoying "instant gratification".
There are two main providers of the game, with a combined 90% share of the market; DraftKings, who hosted the live game scooped by Jones, and Fanduel who together have, for the most part, successfully lobbied the US government to class the game as skill dependent, thus not gambling, like Poker.
Despite this, DFS has been outlawed in Arizona, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana, Washington, Nevada and, as of yesterday, Texas.
Is DFS gambling and would it work in the UK?
