Yahoo, Inc.  has decided it wants a large slice of the burgeoning fantasy sports market with a new product that allows fans to wager real money on their picks

Called Yahoo Sports Daily Fantasy, the new service is said to deliver a more intense, daily form of the virtual “sport” and allows competitors to bet up to $600 a day.

Yahoo though claims it isn’t a form of gambling but describes the wagers as “contest entry fees” instead, but whatever it is the company will be rubbing its hands with glee if it becomes popular: Yahoo takes a 10 percent cut from every dollar spent with the service.

“The rise of daily is early but real,” Yahoo’s Vice President of Publisher Products Ken Fuchs is reported to have said at a news conference on Wednesday, before adding that Yahoo hopes to help make “fantasy sports a mainstream passion” for sports lovers to “compete, talk smack” and have fun.

Questionable legalities

Apparently virtual sports wagering is legal in 45 states, the only states that don’t allow it is Iowa, Arizona, Louisiana, Washington and Montana, but that excludes Federal laws.

Yahoo claims that fantasy sport is a game of skill, not chance, allowing it to be exempt from the Federal Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006.

You know what else is a game of skill? Poker, and online poker gambling is most definitely illegal in the United States, complete with poker site owners being arrested for even placing a foot in the country despite nearly all legally operating poker sites in their countries of origin.

As much as seeing Marissa Meyer is prison garb would make some interesting news, bet money (outside of the United States naturally) on this quickly coming to the attention of the Feds, along with attempts to have it shut down if not tomorrow, but at some point in the future, just as online poker was.

The new service is available now, naturally you’ll need a Yahoo account to use it, and a credit card to place your bets…sorry “contest entry fees.”

Image credit: topastrodfogna/Flickr/ CC by 2.0