Man, you won't believe it, but for a ton of folks out there, the Super Bowl champion ain't even the main event. Nope, it's all about their fantasy sports bets, and the sweet, sweet moolah they're hoping to snag. It's serious business, y'all.

So, you've probably heard about FanDuel and Draft Kings, right? These fantasy sports betting sites have blown up big time, but now they've got the suits breathing down their necks, trying to figure out if betting your hard-earned cash on fantasy leagues is on the up and up web link.

Would you believe that a whopping $26 billion is bouncing around this fantasy sports scene? It's wild! So the million-dollar question is: Are we just playing around here, or is this legit gambling?

Check this out: attorneys general from a handful of states—like New York, Texas, Illinois, Hawaii bbc, Vermont, and Mississippi—have thrown the flag on this play, calling daily fantasy sports straight-up gambling or saying it's flat-out illegal. But then you get places like Rhode Island where the top lawyer gives it the thumbs up but says, ""Hey, we gotta keep this thing in check.""

Now, the bigwigs in the fantasy sports game and their legal eagles are pushing back. They're all like, ""Nah, it's not gambling—it's all about skill!"" But there's another side to this tale, with some folks totally not buying it.

""Daily fantasy sports? That's gambling, plain and simple,"" says Timothy Fong, this brainy dude who co-runs the Gambling Studies Program at UCLA. He chatted with CNBC's ""On the Money"" and laid it down: it's all about chance, man. One freak moment can flip the whole game—that's a gamble.

But folks who dig fantasy betting are shaking their heads. ""It's all skill, baby,"" says Rick Horrow, a sports attorney cbc and big shot CEO at Horrow Sports Ventures. Rick told CNBC that fantasy sports aren't that different from betting games back in the day—which he totally did as a kid.

Back then, Rick was like, ""Yo, I'm mailing draft picks to my buddies and we're playing old-school fantasy."" Fast forward to today, and it's just tech catching up with what we've always been into.

Guess how many peeps are playing fantasy sports in the U.S. and Canada? Nearly 57 million! That's Fantasy Sports Trade Association talking. And it's mostly dudes—66%—with the average Joe being around 37 years old.

Despite all the noise, Horrow points out that it's just a tiny crew who are actually throwing down on daily wagers. ""To be real, only five percent of the fantasy sports crowd is messing with daily bets. The rest? They're doing the season-long thing and no one's making a fuss about it.""

And Dr. Fong from UCLA? He sees a clear line between the day-to-day bets and the whole-season fantasy sports showdowns. ""If you're playing the long game, it's not gambling,"" he says. ""That's all about skill because you've got to stay on your toes, making moves, adapting.""

Now, in daily fantasy sports, you pay a fee, pick your dream team, and if your players kick butt that day, you win cash. Simple as that.

All the pro sports leagues like the NFL, NBA, and MLB have their hands in the fantasy sports cookie jar, too. Horrow reckons the ones who'll come out on top in the fantasy world are the ones who get how to make these games a social blast gamblinginsider.

And you know what's the biggest hit in fantasy sports? Football, baby! Ibisworld says that the NFL brings in 36 percent of the industry's dough, with baseball swinging in with 19 percent, auto racing driving up 12 percent, and the NBA dribbling in with 10 percent.

With so much cash in play, people like Fong are saying we need to keep a close eye on this industry. ""We gotta regulate this thing,"" he insists. ""But hey, it's also about having a good time, bringing people together in this new age of entertainment.""

And Horrow? He's all about the community vibe of fantasy leagues, whether you're playing on your phone or whatever—this thing's gonna keep growing and changing.

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