Many technology companies that are part of the fantasy sports industry, such as Madison-based Rotowire.com, are located in Wisconsin, according to Peter Schoenke, Rotowire.com president and chairman of the Fantasy Sports Trade Association. The first fantasy sports magazine, started in 1989, was founded in Iola.

In 2006, Congress banned financial institutions from authorizing transactions for online gambling websites, but it carved out an exemption for fantasy sports. However, that exemption doesn’t supersede state law, Schoenke said.

He said what distinguishes fantasy sports from illegal gambling is “it takes a lot of knowledge to play.”

“It’s not like traditional gambling where there’s the spin of the dice and the turn of the card,” Schoenke said. “It comes down to how well you know the players, how well you can figure out the game,” he said.

Julaine Appling, president of Wisconsin Family Action, which opposes gambling expansion in the state, said fantasy sports become a form of gambling once the websites charge and pay out money.

“They want to call this some other name so it’s not gambling, but it is,” Appling said. “It’s going to have the same kinds of addiction problems with other online gambling,” she said.

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