vox--2020-01-29--The rise of daily fantasy and sports betting has created an economy of its own

Kevin Roth is a meteorologist , and for the most part , his résumé looks like you might imagine it : He has a master ’ s degree in meteorology , got his start at small-market television stations , and worked his way up to a more prominent perch in Dallas/Fort Worth — the fifth-largest media market in the country .
But these days , his forecasts sound a little bit different .
“ It ’ s not that it ’ s going to be storming or rainy or all that terrible , but we should see about a 15 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to 20 , ” he tells the audience before diverging from a typical weatherman ’ s shtick .
“ This is borderline .
I ’ m more worried if the sustained winds are 20.
” He explains : “ I ’ ve seen about a 10 percent drop in passing yards in similar-weather games .
So it is not ideal , but we ’ re really only talking about a couple really deep throws or a couple really long field goals that are going to be impacted by the weather.
” This is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ San Francisco 49ers ; it ’ s not your typical weather forecast .
Despite his traditional background , Roth is currently the chief meteorologist for RotoGrinders , a website serving the daily fantasy sports ( DFS ) community .
On this particular day in early January , just before our phone conversation , Roth is sharing his at-the-moment forecast and analysis for the CBS Sports podcast Fantasy Football Today .
The NFL ’ s divisional playoff games commence that weekend , and fantasy sports fanatics need to know the most current weather forecast @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Francisco , Baltimore , and Kansas City , Missouri , where the weekend ’ s four games would be played .
If you ’ ve never heard of DFS , you ’ ve probably heard of DraftKings and FanDuel , its two main operators .
Users draft fantasy teams to play in limited game “ slates ” ( e.g.
, one week of NFL action , one night of MLB ) .
In DFS , your teams are driven by granular details like player matchups , injuries , stadium , and certainly weather @ @ @ @ @ @ @ only a few certified meteorologists working in this space , Roth isn ’ t alone in serving this community .
The popularization of fantasy sports , the emergence of DFS , and the recent legalization of sports betting have ushered in a new era of sports fandom where individual player performance is just as exciting as watching your hometown team win .
Beyond the companies that fuel the fantasy world — ESPN and Yahoo , DraftKings and FanDuel — a coterie of other entities , from niche analysis websites to merch stores to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ popped up to cater to fans and cash in on this growing market .
Though it is still an emerging industry , legal sports betting has already seen more than $ 15 billion in wagers and $ 1.1 billion in revenue — in just 12 states where sports betting is legal and data is available — since the Supreme Court reversed a decades-long federal ban in June 2018 .
But before sports betting got approval , DFS went through its own battle for legal recognition .
Currently , some form of DFS is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the District of Columbia .
Seven states — Arizona , Hawaii , Idaho , Montana , Nevada , and Washington — still consider DFS illegal sports gambling .
After a high-profile battle with former New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman over deceptive marketing practices , DraftKings and FanDuel settled , and New York soon after passed legislation to explicitly legalize it .
In a December presentation to investors , DraftKings reported $ 213 million in revenue in 2019 with 60 percent of the market share , indicating the DFS industry brought in more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ year .
The DFS industry brought in more than $ 350 million in revenue last year Before 2018 , when the Court ruled that states possessed the authority to legalize sports betting , Nevada was the only state that offered it legally .
Since then , 19 additional states and the District of Columbia have legalized sports betting , with sportsbooks either having started taking bets or planning to do so soon .
ESPN reports that 24 more states are “ moving toward ” legalization .
Despite being separate products , regulated separately @ @ @ @ @ @ @ games — traditional fantasy , DFS , and sports betting — is similar .
A 2018 Ipsos study , commissioned by the FSGA , found that “ 79 % of fantasy sports players who are not current sports wagerers say they will likely participate in sports betting once legalized in their state.
” So it makes sense that many of the DFS operators have gotten into sports betting too .
DraftKings and FanDuel both operate sportsbooks separate from their fantasy offerings .
“ We ’ re not even close to a fully mature @ @ @ @ @ @ @ betting legalization looked “ particularly imminent ” until it happened , but always saw DFS as a “ placeholder ” for sports betting .
Legalization “ might have happened either way , but I think everybody got a little more comfortable with it — no matter what you think of DFS , it ’ s a form of having money on the outcome of a game , ” Gouker , head of content for LegalSportsReport and a network of related websites , tells me .
That involves everyone from leagues and teams to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and users .
“ I think there still would ’ ve been a pretty decent groundswell without it because I think there ’ s a pent-up demand for sports betting , but everyone got more comfortable with it a little bit more quickly because of daily fantasy.
” Gouker says he thinks the legal progress and economic growth in the past two years is “ astounding , ” but there ’ s a lot of room for the industry to grow , he says .
“ Even though we have all these states @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to a fully mature market.
” Since the popularization of fantasy sports in the 1980s , media organizations have consistently played a significant role in the growth of the games .
The prefix roto- , found in RotoGrinders and a number of other fantasy-focused businesses , originated with the advent of the season-long rotisserie baseball league .
Daniel Okrent , the journalist who invented the format , and his friends launched their first league over lunch at the now-closed La Rotisserie Française .
Their draft took place just before the start of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Philadelphia Phillies third baseman Mike Schmidt was picked first overall ( a good pick , too : Schmidt had an MVP season and led the Phillies to their first World Series title ) .
“ Roto ” baseball took off in part because Okrent — who went on to become the first public editor of the New York Times — along with his fellow team-manager buddies , worked in journalism .
“ The second season , there were Rotisserie leagues in every Major League press box , ” Okrent told Vanity Fair in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a players ’ strike , and the writers who were covering baseball had nothing to write about , so they began writing about the teams they had assembled in their own leagues.
” In 1995 , ESPN began offering a fantasy sports platform on its website , followed by CBS Sports in 1997 and the upstart Commissioner.com , which CBS then bought outright for $ 31 million in 2001 .
Yahoo changed the game in 1999 when it began hosting free fantasy leagues , relying on ad revenue rather than user fees .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ came news specifically catering to its players .
RotoNews — now RotoWire — launched in 1997 and quickly became one of the most visited sports websites .
Now practically every sports media organization , from mainstream to niche , has some involvement with fantasy sports ( including Vox Media ’ s SB Nation ) .
They provide player-by-player insights and statistical analysis through TV shows , podcasts , articles , and databases , and fantasy managers rely on this information to make educated decisions about drafting and maintaining their teams .
DFS , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the world of traditional friend-group fantasy with what we ’ re seeing now : a burgeoning sports-betting market gradually sweeping through the United States .
While much of the money in this space flows through the fantasy sports operators and sportsbooks , a cottage media industry has popped up to support it .
Niche sites zero in on sports statistics , analyzed for specific audiences playing specific fantasy games and making specific sports bets .
Troves of podcasts bring a new spin on the chatter of legacy sports talk radio .
And there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ varying repute — who sell their fantasy and sports betting picks to more casual players for hefty subscription fees .
At first , Chris Raybon wasn ’ t exposed to much of this , but he always played fantasy football and obsessed over stats .
He worked in accounting for a tech company and , “ bored out of my mind , ” would read about fantasy .
After reading an article on the sports analytics website numberFire that he vehemently disagreed with , he emailed the editor , who asked if Raybon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ free .
Over time , Raybon started building an audience and improving his analysis , and in turn he was able to get paid more and more for his writing .
Finally , he left his accounting job for a full-time position writing for the fantasy site 4for4 to launch its DFS coverage .
Thrust into the nascent DFS space , Raybon watched as the game ’ s legality was challenged .
“ When the legality of DFS was being questioned , it was uncomfortable for me personally , ” he said .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ I ’ m probably out of a job.
” But Raybon transitioned smoothly to his new career .
These days , he splits his time between writing for the Action Network , an upstart subscription media company focused on sports betting , and its sister website FantasyLabs , as well as co-hosting Fantasy Sports Radio on SiriusXM and I ’ ll Take That Bet on ESPN+ .
There ’ s a large appetite for his analysis .
Despite the emergence of sports betting , Adam Levitan is sticking with DFS .
Levitan , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ DFS for RotoWorld , recently launched Establish the Run , a new DFS football website , with partner Evan Silva .
The model is simple : $ 204.99 for an entire NFL season of their analysis , top plays , rankings , and more .
With an enormous following on Twitter and his popular Daily Fantasy Football Edge podcast , Levitan has made a career out of DFS .
“ I like football , but I like playing fantasy and trying to outsmart people more , ” he says .
“ I think @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , I don ’ t know how much sports I would really watch .
People don ’ t want to hear that .
But I think you could be better at fantasy when you don ’ t care .
And I think that if you follow the game from more of a data-driven perspective , you don ’ t get swayed by small-sample outlier stuff.
” Fantasy and sports betting has given fans new ways and reasons to watch .
“ I would never watch Jaguars-Titans in a million years , but if @ @ @ @ @ @ @ then of course I ’ m watching Jaguars-Titans , ” Levitan says .
“ I really think without fantasy football , the NFL would not be where it is today.
” Raybon says the fantasy and sports betting worlds are the “ most merged they ’ ve ever been ” because not only is the audience the same , but many analysts — including him — use their data to forecast results in both .
“ For me , I have a spreadsheet and a model and I ’ m projecting every game @ @ @ @ @ @ @ week anyway , ” he said .
“ It ’ s the same information , it ’ s the same skills that are necessary.
” And in addition to the niche sites and podcasts , mainstream sports media have caught on .
For fantasy ESPN has The Fantasy Show and Yahoo hosts Fantasy Football Live .
And they ’ ve doubled down on sports betting content too : ESPN ’ s Daily Wager and Fox Sports ’ Lock It In are just two examples .
( Vox Media , which owns this site @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Vox ’ s SB Nation sports property . )
“ I like football , but I like playing fantasy and trying to outsmart people more ” Outside of media , individual retailers have gotten into the fray .
RotoWear , a website selling tongue-in-cheek apparel for sports fans , has its origins in fantasy sports ( hence the roto- prefix ) and has an entire collection of fantasy- and DFS-related merch .
( One T-shirt lists BABIP & wOBA & xFIP & SwStr & WAR — mostly obscure but effective baseball statistics — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Professional baseball players like Aaron Judge and Max Muncy have recently been spotted in RotoWear shirts .
ESPN host Matthew Berry runs the FantasyLife website , selling fantasy-related merch , including apparel and a $ 159 26-inch trophy for fantasy league losers with a toilet on it .
The thrills of DFS and sports betting are popping up in real life too — not just in terrestrial casinos and DraftKings or FanDuel-hosted tournament finals , but in bars and restaurants .
The Virginia-based company Eaglestrike Fantasy Sports has fantasy kiosks in sports bars @ @ @ @ @ @ @ competitions too .
In Washington , DC , when sports betting becomes fully operational , individual bars and restaurants can apply for special licenses to host sports betting too .
It might not be long before fantasy and sports betting are a staple of the modern sports bar .
From the time he was 5 years old , Roth knew he wanted to be a TV weatherman .
And by all accounts , he achieved his dream .
In Dallas , he worked on a show , Eye Opener , that was syndicated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ weather for viewers in Houston , Miami , Philadelphia , Portland , and DC as well .
“ I felt like I made it , ” Roth told me .
“ This was the dream job .
I loved the show I was on .
But at the same time I just knew it wasn ’ t sustainable.
” Roth started to feel the financial constraints of the local TV news business , and they were becoming increasingly troublesome .
At one point , Roth was asked to handle weather , sports , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Things kept getting shittier in the TV industry , ” he recalls .
In 2014 , Roth started working a second job .
Through a friend of a friend , he found out that RotoGrinders needed someone to predict whether baseball games would rain out or not .
Roth had always been a “ huge sports nut ” and dabbled in traditional season-long fantasy leagues but had never even heard of DFS .
“ I didn ’ t even know what DraftKings was , ” Roth says .
“ But I knew weather @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all I needed.
” “ I didn ’ t even know what DraftKings was .
But I knew weather and sports .
And that was really all I needed.
” As his TV work became shakier , the DFS industry was growing rapidly and with it grew the scope of his responsibilities .
Eventually , Roth was let go from the station , along with the rest of his on-air team , and his show was canceled .
Shortly after , RotoGrinders made him a full-time offer .
Roth ’ s lifelong dream @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but he had hedged his bet on a promising media company supporting a budding industry .
While his lifestyle is different now , only some things are different about his work .
“ In TV you ’ re forecasting for not just a city but a whole area , like the DFW Metroplex and all surrounding counties , so you can be very general .
You can say ‘ 30 percent chance of rain , ’ ” he says .
“ In sports , you ’ re forecasting for one particular game in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Thirty percent doesn ’ t cut it .
Maybes are not accepted in sports betting.
” Throughout his career , Roth ’ s singular dream was to return to his hometown of Tampa as a meteorologist .
Recently , he turned down a job offer to do just that .
Maybe one day he ’ ll get back to that original dream , but for now , things are going well for Kevin Roth in fantasy land .
Sign up for The Goods ’ newsletter and we ’ ll send you the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , why we buy it , and why it matters .

Kevin Roth is a meteorologist, and for the most part, his résumé looks like you might imagine it: He has a master’s degree in meteorology, got his start at small-market television stations, and worked his way up to a more prominent perch in Dallas/Fort Worth — the fifth-largest media market in the country. But these days, his forecasts sound a little bit different.
“It’s not that it’s going to be storming or rainy or all that terrible, but we should see about a 15 mph sustained wind, with gusts up to 20,” he tells the audience before diverging from a typical weatherman’s shtick. “This is borderline. I’m more worried if the sustained winds are 20.”
He explains: “I’ve seen about a 10 percent drop in passing yards in similar-weather games. So it is not ideal, but we’re really only talking about a couple really deep throws or a couple really long field goals that are going to be impacted by the weather.” This is all about the Minnesota Vikings and the San Francisco 49ers; it’s not your typical weather forecast.
Despite his traditional background, Roth is currently the chief meteorologist for RotoGrinders, a website serving the daily fantasy sports (DFS) community. On this particular day in early January, just before our phone conversation, Roth is sharing his at-the-moment forecast and analysis for the CBS Sports podcast Fantasy Football Today. The NFL’s divisional playoff games commence that weekend, and fantasy sports fanatics need to know the most current weather forecast in Green Bay, Wisconsin, San Francisco, Baltimore, and Kansas City, Missouri, where the weekend’s four games would be played.
If you’ve never heard of DFS, you’ve probably heard of DraftKings and FanDuel, its two main operators. Users draft fantasy teams to play in limited game “slates” (e.g., one week of NFL action, one night of MLB). In DFS, your teams are driven by granular details like player matchups, injuries, stadium, and certainly weather.
While he may be one of only a few certified meteorologists working in this space, Roth isn’t alone in serving this community. The popularization of fantasy sports, the emergence of DFS, and the recent legalization of sports betting have ushered in a new era of sports fandom where individual player performance is just as exciting as watching your hometown team win. Beyond the companies that fuel the fantasy world — ESPN and Yahoo, DraftKings and FanDuel — a coterie of other entities, from niche analysis websites to merch stores to sports bars hosting live contests, have popped up to cater to fans and cash in on this growing market.
Though it is still an emerging industry, according to the American Gaming Association legal sports betting has already seen more than $17 billion in wagers and $1.2 billion in revenue — in just 14 states where sports betting is legal and data is available — since the Supreme Court reversed a decades-long federal ban in June 2018. But before sports betting got approval, DFS went through its own battle for legal recognition. Currently, some form of DFS is legal and operational in 43 states and the District of Columbia. Seven states — Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and Washington — still consider DFS illegal sports gambling.
After a high-profile battle with former New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman over deceptive marketing practices, DraftKings and FanDuel settled, and New York soon after passed legislation to explicitly legalize it. In a December presentation to investors, DraftKings reported $213 million in revenue in 2019 with 60 percent of the market share, indicating the DFS industry brought in more than $350 million in revenue last year.
The DFS industry brought in more than $350 million in revenue last year
Before 2018, when the Court ruled that states possessed the authority to legalize sports betting, Nevada was the only state that offered it legally. Since then, 19 additional states and the District of Columbia have legalized sports betting, with sportsbooks either having started taking bets or planning to do so soon. ESPN reports that 24 more states are “moving toward” legalization.
Despite being separate products, regulated separately, the user base for all three games — traditional fantasy, DFS, and sports betting — is similar. A 2018 Ipsos study, commissioned by the Fantasy Sports & Gaming Association, found that “79% of fantasy sports players who are not current sports wagerers say they will likely participate in sports betting once legalized in their state.” So it makes sense that many of the DFS operators have gotten into sports betting too. DraftKings and FanDuel both operate sportsbooks separate from their fantasy offerings.
“We’re not even close to a fully mature market”
Dustin Gouker never thought sports betting legalization looked “particularly imminent” until it happened, but always saw DFS as a “placeholder” for sports betting. Legalization “might have happened either way, but I think everybody got a little more comfortable with it — no matter what you think of DFS, it’s a form of having money on the outcome of a game,” Gouker, head of content for LegalSportsReport and a network of related websites, tells me. That involves everyone from leagues and teams to media companies, politicians, lobbyists, and users. “I think there still would’ve been a pretty decent groundswell without it because I think there’s a pent-up demand for sports betting, but everyone got more comfortable with it a little bit more quickly because of daily fantasy.”
Gouker says he thinks the legal progress and economic growth in the past two years is “astounding,” but there’s a lot of room for the industry to grow, he says. “Even though we have all these states, we’re not even close to a fully mature market.”
Since the popularization of fantasy sports in the 1980s, media organizations have consistently played a significant role in the growth of the games. The prefix roto-, found in RotoGrinders and a number of other fantasy-focused businesses, originated with the advent of the season-long rotisserie baseball league. Daniel Okrent, the journalist who invented the format, and his friends launched their first league over lunch at the now-closed La Rotisserie Française. Their draft took place just before the start of the 1980 Major League Baseball season, and Philadelphia Phillies third baseman Mike Schmidt was picked first overall (a good pick, too: Schmidt had an MVP season and led the Phillies to their first World Series title).
“Roto” baseball took off in part because Okrent — who went on to become the first public editor of the New York Times — along with his fellow team-manager buddies, worked in journalism. “The second season, there were Rotisserie leagues in every Major League press box,” Okrent told Vanity Fair in 2008. “In 1981 there was a players’ strike, and the writers who were covering baseball had nothing to write about, so they began writing about the teams they had assembled in their own leagues.”
In 1995, ESPN began offering a fantasy sports platform on its website, followed by CBS Sports in 1997 and the upstart Commissioner.com, which CBS then bought outright for $31 million in 2001. Yahoo changed the game in 1999 when it began hosting free fantasy leagues, relying on ad revenue rather than user fees. And with the rise of fantasy sports came news specifically catering to its players. RotoNews — now RotoWire — launched in 1997 and quickly became one of the most visited sports websites.
Now practically every sports media organization, from mainstream to niche, has some involvement with fantasy sports (including Vox Media’s SB Nation). They provide player-by-player insights and statistical analysis through TV shows, podcasts, articles, and databases, and fantasy managers rely on this information to make educated decisions about drafting and maintaining their teams.
DFS, which first appeared in 2007, bridged the world of traditional friend-group fantasy with what we’re seeing now: a burgeoning sports-betting market gradually sweeping through the United States.
While much of the money in this space flows through the fantasy sports operators and sportsbooks, a cottage media industry has popped up to support it. Niche sites zero in on sports statistics, analyzed for specific audiences playing specific fantasy games and making specific sports bets. Troves of podcasts bring a new spin on the chatter of legacy sports talk radio. And there’s plenty of analysts — of varying repute — who sell their fantasy and sports betting picks to more casual players for hefty subscription fees.
At first, Chris Raybon wasn’t exposed to much of this, but he always played fantasy football and obsessed over stats. He worked in accounting for a tech company and, “bored out of my mind,” would read about fantasy. After reading an article on the sports analytics website numberFire that he vehemently disagreed with, he emailed the editor, who asked if Raybon wanted to start writing for them for free. Over time, Raybon started building an audience and improving his analysis, and in turn he was able to get paid more and more for his writing. Finally, he left his accounting job for a full-time position writing for the fantasy site 4for4 and helped launch its DFS coverage.
Thrust into the nascent DFS space, Raybon watched as the game’s legality was challenged. “When the legality of DFS was being questioned, it was uncomfortable for me personally,” he said. “If DFS is no more, I’m probably out of a job.” But Raybon transitioned smoothly to his new career. These days, he splits his time between writing for the Action Network, an upstart subscription media company focused on sports betting, and its sister website FantasyLabs, as well as co-hosting Fantasy Sports Radio on SiriusXM. There’s a large appetite for his analysis.
Despite the emergence of sports betting, Adam Levitan is sticking with DFS. Levitan, who has an established background writing about DFS for RotoWorld, recently launched Establish the Run, a new DFS football website, with partner Evan Silva. The model is simple: $204.99 for an entire NFL season of their analysis, top plays, rankings, and more. With an enormous following on Twitter and his popular Daily Fantasy Football Edge podcast, Levitan has made a career out of DFS.
“I like football, but I like playing fantasy and trying to outsmart people more,” he says. “I think if I didn’t play fantasy, I don’t know how much sports I would really watch. People don’t want to hear that. But I think you could be better at fantasy when you don’t care. And I think that if you follow the game from more of a data-driven perspective, you don’t get swayed by small-sample outlier stuff.”
Fantasy and sports betting has given fans new ways and reasons to watch. “I would never watch Jaguars-Titans in a million years, but if I have fantasy players in it, then of course I’m watching Jaguars-Titans,” Levitan says. “I really think without fantasy football, the NFL would not be where it is today.”
Raybon says the fantasy and sports betting worlds are the “most merged they’ve ever been” because not only is the audience the same, but many analysts — including him — use their data to forecast results in both. “For me, I have a spreadsheet and a model and I’m projecting every game and every player and every team every week anyway,” he said. “It’s the same information, it’s the same skills that are necessary.”
And in addition to the niche sites and podcasts, mainstream sports media have caught on. For fantasy ESPN has The Fantasy Show and Yahoo hosts Fantasy Football Live. And they’ve doubled down on sports betting content too: ESPN’s Daily Wager and Fox Sports’ Lock It In are just two examples. Controversial sports media company Barstool Sports announced in late January it is being sold to Penn National Gaming, a gambling company, for $450 million, Recode reports. (Vox Media, which owns this site, has a deal between DraftKings and Vox’s SB Nation sports property.)
“I like football, but I like playing fantasy and trying to outsmart people more”
Outside of media, individual retailers have gotten into the fray. RotoWear, a website selling tongue-in-cheek apparel for sports fans, has its origins in fantasy sports (hence the roto- prefix) and has an entire collection of fantasy- and DFS-related merch. (One T-shirt lists BABIP & wOBA & xFIP & SwStr & WAR — mostly obscure but effective baseball statistics — in that now-ubiquitous shirt design.) Professional baseball players like Aaron Judge and Max Muncy have recently been spotted in RotoWear shirts. ESPN host Matthew Berry runs the FantasyLife website, selling fantasy-related merch, including apparel and a $159 26-inch trophy for fantasy league losers with a toilet on it.
The thrills of DFS and sports betting are popping up in real life too — not just in terrestrial casinos and DraftKings or FanDuel-hosted tournament finals, but in bars and restaurants. The Virginia-based company Eaglestrike Fantasy Sports has fantasy kiosks in sports bars across five states and hosts live fantasy competitions too. In Washington, DC, when sports betting becomes fully operational, individual bars and restaurants can apply for special licenses to host sports betting too. It might not be long before fantasy and sports betting are a staple of the modern sports bar.
From the time he was 5 years old, Roth knew he wanted to be a TV weatherman. And by all accounts, he achieved his dream. In Dallas, he worked on a show, Eye Opener, that was syndicated, which meant he often forecast the weather for viewers in Houston, Miami, Philadelphia, Portland, and DC as well. “I felt like I made it,” Roth told me. “This was the dream job. I loved the show I was on. But at the same time I just knew it wasn’t sustainable.”
Roth started to feel the financial constraints of the local TV news business, and they were becoming increasingly troublesome. At one point, Roth was asked to handle weather, sports, traffic, and anchor broadcasts. “Things kept getting shittier in the TV industry,” he recalls.
In 2014, Roth started working a second job. Through a friend of a friend, he found out that RotoGrinders needed someone to predict whether baseball games would rain out or not. Roth had always been a “huge sports nut” and dabbled in traditional season-long fantasy leagues but had never even heard of DFS. “I didn’t even know what DraftKings was,” Roth says. “But I knew weather and sports. And that was really all I needed.”
“I didn’t even know what DraftKings was. But I knew weather and sports. And that was really all I needed.”
As his TV work became shakier, the DFS industry was growing rapidly and with it grew the scope of his responsibilities. Eventually, Roth was let go from the station, along with the rest of his on-air team, and his show was canceled. Shortly after, RotoGrinders made him a full-time offer.
Roth’s lifelong dream of being on TV had ended, but he had hedged his bet on a promising media company supporting a budding industry.
While his lifestyle is different now, only some things are different about his work. “In TV you’re forecasting for not just a city but a whole area, like the DFW Metroplex and all surrounding counties, so you can be very general. You can say ‘30 percent chance of rain,’” he says. “In sports, you’re forecasting for one particular game in one particular spot at one specific time. Thirty percent doesn’t cut it. Maybes are not accepted in sports betting.”
Throughout his career, Roth’s singular dream was to return to his hometown of Tampa as a meteorologist. Recently, he turned down a job offer to do just that.
Maybe one day he’ll get back to that original dream, but for now, things are going well for Kevin Roth in fantasy land.
Sign up for The Goods’ newsletter and we’ll send you the best Goods stories exploring what we buy, why we buy it, and why it matters.


vox--2020-01-29--A SARS-like virus is spreading quickly. Here’s what you need to know.

On December 31 last year , China announced a small outbreak of a mysterious new coronavirus in the city of Wuhan involving 27 cases .
Flash-forward to Wednesday : The number of cases of 2019-nCoV , as the virus is known , has leaped past 6,000 , and there are sick people in more than a dozen other countries .
That includes five confirmed cases in the United States .
Nancy Messonnier , director of the CDC ’ s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases , said Friday that although the outbreak is a “ very serious public health @ @ @ @ @ @ @ US public is low at this time.
” Yet Tom Frieden , the former director of the CDC , told Vox he ’ s concerned by how infectious the virus is .
“ If the sustained human transmission and a high rate of severe illness are confirmed , then it clearly is an event of international concern.
” With information about 2019-nCoV — and its risk of spreading — evolving by the hour , we ’ ve answered basic questions about the outbreak here .
We ’ ll be updating this story as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Where did this coronavirus outbreak come from ?
The outbreak was first reported to the World Health Organization by Chinese officials on December 31 in Wuhan , a city of 11 million in Hubei province .
At that time , cases centered around Wuhan ’ s Huanan South China Seafood Market .
Local health officials reported then that patients with the virus were “ mainly business staff and purchasers ” at the market , where vendors peddle seafood as well as animals such as birds and rabbits .
Scientists in China quickly ruled @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The leading hypothesis then was that a yet-to-be-identified novel virus had spread to humans from one of the animals in the market .
By January 9 , the state broadcaster , China Central Television , reported a major discovery : a new virus , known as 2019-nCoV .
Many of the people who had become ill tested positive for 2019-nCoV .
Two days later , Chinese scientists shared the genetic sequence of the new virus , and the WHO applauded China ’ s efforts for sharing information readily .
( This transparency @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of 2003 , when China was heavily criticized for withholding information about the outbreak for too long .
The virus eventually killed 774 people and infected more than 8,000 . )
By January 20 , Chinese authorities confirmed that human-to-human transmission is also occurring .
By January 23 , the WHO confirmed that there is “ fourth-generation ” spread of the virus in Wuhan , meaning there are cases where an individual has spread it to a second person , that second person to a third , and the third to a fourth @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s also evidence of second-generation cases . )
Knowing that , “ the scope of this outbreak expands massively , ” Peter Daszak , the president of EcoHealth Alliance , a US global health research organization working in China , told Vox .
But the picture of the beginnings of this outbreak is changing .
A recent study , published on January 24 in The Lancet , suggests the outbreak may not have actually started at the market .
The first known patient had no market exposure .
And that person became @ @ @ @ @ @ @ weeks earlier than Wuhan health authorities had suggested about the first case .
2 ) How many people are sick ?
How many have died ?
As of January 29 , at least 6,057 people have fallen ill .
The vast majority of these patients ( 5,970 ) are in mainland China , and most ( 3,554 ) are concentrated in Hubei province , home to Wuhan .
The remaining cases are spread across more than 30 Chinese provinces and cities — including Shanghai , Guangdong , Hong Kong , and Beijing .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ out this website from researchers at Johns Hopkins ; it collects data from various sources : the WHO , the CDC , the National Health Commission of the People ’ s Republic of China ( NHC ) , and two other sites .
( The map is embedded below . )
Additional cases have turned up in travelers in more than a dozen other countries , including the US , Canada , Thailand , Japan , Taiwan , Malaysia , Singapore , France , Australia , Nepal , Vietnam , Germany , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people have died .
But the real toll may be much higher .
Hong Kong University infectious disease researchers have estimated that the virus may be spreading person-to-person in all of China ’ s major mainland cities , and that there are already 44,000 cases in Wuhan alone .
UK-based researchers who have modeled the outbreak ’ s potential suggest there are likely many more cases — as many as 9,700 , according to the upper end of their estimate .
And the risk of rapid spread is heightened , as hundreds of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s Lunar New Year .
3 ) How is the world responding ?
Chinese authorities first warned people to stop traveling in and out of Wuhan , and then said they would put the city under quarantine beginning January 23 , suspending public transport within Wuhan , and canceling flights and trains leaving the city .
It was an extraordinary move given that Wuhan has a population of 11 million , more people than New York City .
By the evening of January 24 , quarantine measures had expanded to 12 cities near @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 35 million people .
By January 25 , President Xi Jinping said the new virus posed a “ grave ” threat , and his government ordered travel agencies to suspend tours for Chinese citizens inside China and overseas .
The same day , Hong Kong authorities declared a state of emergency over the virus and closed schools for three weeks , while Beijing suspended all inter-province buses .
According to the New York Times , the government said the quarantine was needed to “ effectively cut off the transmission of the virus , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and ensure the safety and health of the people.
” But the evidence for travel restrictions during outbreaks shows , counterintuitively , that they don ’ t actually do much to stop the spread of disease .
Health officials in China and the region are now scrambling to find cases through screening at transportation hubs and follow-up with the contacts of those infected with the virus — an effort that ’ s supported by the WHO .
Other countries at risk of imported cases have also implemented extraordinary measures .
In the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Homeland Security Department ’ s Customs and Border Protection — began screening travelers from Wuhan for the virus at US airports on January 17 , and all travelers from the city will be funneled through airports that are looking out for cases .
The US government evacuated American diplomats and citizens from Wuhan and they ’ re being held in Alaska for medical observation .
Its also advising Americans to avoid non-essential travel to China .
Hong Kong has suspended ferry and train links with mainland China , and cancelled flights .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ flights to China — including Air Canada , British Airways , and United .
4 ) What do we know about the cases in the US ?
Right now there are five confirmed cases in the US , according to the CDC .
All involved travelers from Wuhan : • The first patient ’ s name hasn ’ t been released , but we know he ’ s a resident of Snohomish County in Washington state .
We also know he ’ s in his 30s and he recently traveled to Wuhan , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ two days before airport screening started ( though the man didn ’ t have symptoms yet ) .
By January 19 , he reached out to health care providers to report his symptoms and travel history .
They suspected 2019-nCoV .
The man is being treated for mild pneumonia at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett , Washington .
• The second case , reported on January 24 , involves a woman in her 60s who lives in Chicago .
She returned from Wuhan on January 13 and didn ’ t have any @ @ @ @ @ @ @ after returning , when she started to feel ill , she called health care providers to report her symptoms and was admitted to a hospital and placed in isolation .
She ’ s currently in stable condition .
• The third , fourth , and fifth cases , reported over the weekend , concerned individuals in Orange County and LA County , California , and Maricopa County , Arizona , respectively .
They had all recently traveled to Wuhan , and they ’ re receiving care in local hospitals .
As of January @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ve screened over 2,000 people coming into the US for the disease on 200 flights , and found zero cases .
The agency also said it ’ s investigating 100 possible cases of coronavirus in 26 states .
5 ) How does the new coronavirus spread ?
We don ’ t yet know the exact way the virus is spreading , but we do know it ’ s part of a large family of viruses called coronaviruses , which mostly infect mammals , including bats .
Coronaviruses attack the respiratory system , sometimes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Only seven , including 2019-nCoV , SARS , and MERS , have evolved to infect humans .
According to the CDC , human coronaviruses are most commonly passed via : • Touching an object or surface with the virus on it , then touching your mouth , nose , or eyes before washing your hands As for how easily the new coronavirus spreads , that ’ s also unclear .
According to a preliminary estimate from the WHO , at the moment , each individual has transmitted the virus to an average @ @ @ @ @ @ @ makes 2019-nCoV , based on what we know now , less contagious than SARS .
But there are many different estimates floating around as the situation evolves — and some suggest 2019-nCoV is even more contagious .
For the moment , the WHO estimates the virus ’ s incubation period — before symptoms start to show — is between two and 10 days , but it ’ s not yet known whether the virus can spread during that time .
We also know at least 15 health care workers have been infected .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ health care worker infections in outbreaks , ” explained Tom Inglesby , director of the Center for Health Security of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health .
“ It ’ s always a sign of alarm when that happens , ” he added , because it means the virus may be easily transmitted , even in settings where people are taking precautions .
6 ) What are the symptoms of the new coronavirus ?
Two of the seven coronaviruses that infect humans , SARS and MERS , can cause severe pneumonia @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to milder symptoms , like a common cold .
At the moment , it ’ s not clear where 2019-nCoV falls on that spectrum .
An early report , published in the Lancet , provided a good overview of what ’ s known about symptoms so far — in a subset of the first 41 patients with confirmed 2019-nCoV in Wuhan .
The most common symptoms in this group were fever , cough , muscle pain , and fatigue ; less common were headache , diarrhea , and coughing up mucus or blood @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the 41 patients had difficulty breathing , and 63 percent had low levels of white blood cells .
As for the disease severity : 13 patients were admitted to an ICU and six died .
By January 22 , 68 percent of the patients had been discharged from the hospital .
All patients had pneumonia and lung abnormalities on CT scans .
( A quick refresher : Pneumonia is an infection in the lungs that can be caused by a variety of organisms — bacteria , fungi , viruses , even parasites .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the infection and leading the lungs ’ air sacs to become inflamed and fill up with fluid or pus instead of air . )
In the Lancet group , most patients were men and over half didn ’ t have underlying diseases .
The median age was 49 .
It ’ s possible there are many more people with the virus who have very mild symptoms or who are asymptomatic , said Dr. Jeremy Farrar , director of the Wellcome Trust , a research charity focused on global health .
If that ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ thousands carrying 2019-nCoV while only a few people have died , this outbreak will look milder .
It ’ s also possible this virus winds up behaving like SARS , said Inglesby , which kills about one in 10 patients infected .
With SARS , “ We saw substantial spread in health care settings where health care workers became ill during care for patients , ” for example .
“ This is a very serious outbreak with the potential for widespread transmission.
” 7 ) What ’ s the likelihood this becomes a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for this virus to spread further is so great that the WHO gathered an expert committee on Wednesday and Thursday last week to decide whether the emergence of 2019-nCoV constitutes a global public health emergency , a rare designation the agency gives outbreaks that pose an international threat .
By the end of Thursday , the WHO ’ s Director-General , Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus , announced the committee ’ s decision that the outbreak doesn ’ t yet constitute one , mainly because of the limited number of cases outside of China , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the spread of the disease .
“ Make no mistake , this is an emergency in China .
But it has not yet become a global health emergency , ” Tedros explained .
He also vowed to reconvene the emergency committee in the coming days to review new data .
“ At this time , there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission outside China , but that doesn ’ t mean it won ’ t happen , ” Tedros added .
Formally , a public health emergency of international concern , or PHEIC @ @ @ @ @ @ @ defined as “ an extraordinary event which is determined to constitute a public health risk to other States through the international spread of disease and to potentially require a coordinated international response.
” In reality , it ’ s a political tool the WHO uses to sound the alarm about a serious disease that has caught the world off guard and put people ’ s health in danger .
It ’ s meant to draw countries ’ immediate attention , to galvanize resources , and stop the disease from spreading further across borders @ @ @ @ @ @ @ PHEIC is whether the disease threat is dire enough to risk countries enacting travel and trade restrictions .
Declarations can be devastating to local economies and are often associated with economic losses .
So they ’ re not taken lightly .
In fact , the WHO has only declared a public health emergency five times since the International Health Regulations , which govern global health emergency responses , were enacted in 2007 .
The first time was in 2009 , with the outbreak of the H1N1 swine flu pandemic .
The second time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seemed to surge again , threatening the eradication effort .
The third time , in August 2014 , came as the Ebola outbreak in West Africa was growing out of control .
The fourth was related to Zika in 2016 .
And the fifth , in 2019 , was another outbreak of Ebola that ’ s ongoing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo .
8 ) How worried should I be about a pandemic ?
There are too many unknowns to say .
We don ’ t know which animal carries this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ how exactly it spreads .
We don ’ t know how easily it spreads among people , or how deadly and severe the virus is .
To put the cases and deaths so far into perspective , remember that seasonal flu kills between 250,000 and 650,000 people each year .
“ Right now , you ’ re probably more likely to be catching flu than you are to be getting coronavirus , ” said Devi Sridhar , chair in global public health at the University of Edinburgh .
Even so , the fact @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so many countries — mere weeks after this outbreak was first declared — suggests we should brace ourselves for an escalation .
Messonnier of the CDC said there are likely to be more cases in the coming days — in the US and beyond .
“ This is a rapidly changing situation — abroad and domestically — and we ’ re still learning , ” Messonnier added .
That doesn ’ t , however , mean American officials expect the US to be inundated with dozens of patients or that the virus will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s the major cities in and around China that are most at risk , according to a paper posted on January 14 in the Journal of Travel Medicine .
The top travel destinations out of Wuhan — and most at risk of spread of the infection — include Bangkok , Hong Kong , Tokyo , and Taipei .
A SARS-like virus has sickened thousands in China , and made its way to the United States .
Vox ’ s Julia Belluz explains what ’ s known and what ’ s next .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ get your podcasts , including : Apple Podcasts , Google Podcasts , Spotify , Stitcher , and ART19 .

On December 31 last year, China announced a small outbreak of a new coronavirus in the city of Wuhan involving 27 cases.
Flash-forward to Wednesday: The number of cases of 2019-nCoV, as the virus is known, has leaped past 6,000, and there are sick people in more than a dozen other countries.
That includes five confirmed cases in the United States.
Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said Friday that although the outbreak is a “very serious public health threat, the immediate risk to the US public is low at this time.”
Yet Tom Frieden, the former director of the CDC, told Vox he’s concerned by how infectious the virus is. “If the sustained human transmission and a high rate of severe illness are confirmed, then it clearly is an event of international concern.”
With information about 2019-nCoV — and its risk of spreading — evolving by the hour, we’ve answered basic questions about the outbreak here. We’ll be updating this story as more information becomes available.
1) Where did this coronavirus outbreak come from?
The outbreak was first reported to the World Health Organization by Chinese officials on December 31 in Wuhan, a city of 11 million in Hubei province. At that time, cases centered around Wuhan’s Huanan South China Seafood Market. Local health officials reported then that patients with the virus were “mainly business staff and purchasers” at the market, where vendors peddle seafood as well as animals such as birds and rabbits.
Scientists in China quickly ruled out known pathogens as the likely cause. The leading hypothesis then was that a yet-to-be-identified novel virus had spread to humans from one of the animals in the market.
By January 9, the state broadcaster, China Central Television, reported a major discovery: a new virus, known as 2019-nCoV. Many of the people who had become ill tested positive for 2019-nCoV. Two days later, Chinese scientists shared the genetic sequence of the new virus, and the WHO applauded China’s efforts for sharing information readily. (This transparency was a contrast to the SARS outbreak of 2003, when China was heavily criticized for withholding information about the outbreak for too long. The virus eventually killed 774 people and infected more than 8,000.)
By January 20, Chinese authorities confirmed that human-to-human transmission is also occurring. By January 23, the WHO confirmed that there is “fourth-generation” spread of the virus in Wuhan, meaning there are cases where an individual has spread it to a second person, that second person to a third, and the third to a fourth. (Outside of Wuhan, there’s also evidence of second-generation cases.) Knowing that, “the scope of this outbreak expands massively,” Peter Daszak, the president of EcoHealth Alliance, a US global health research organization working in China, told Vox.
But the picture of the beginnings of this outbreak is changing. A recent study, published on January 24 in The Lancet, suggests the outbreak may not have actually started at the market. The first known patient had no market exposure. And that person became ill on December 1, nearly two weeks earlier than Wuhan health authorities had suggested about the first case.
2) How many people are sick? How many have died?
As of January 29, at least 6,057 people have fallen ill. The vast majority of these patients (5,970) are in mainland China, and most (3,554) are concentrated in Hubei province, home to Wuhan. The remaining cases are spread across more than 30 Chinese provinces and cities — including Shanghai, Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Beijing. To get the latest numbers, check out this website from researchers at Johns Hopkins; it collects data from various sources: the WHO, the CDC, the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China (NHC), and two other sites. (The map is embedded below.)
Source: Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering
Additional cases have turned up in travelers in more than a dozen other countries, including the US, Canada, Thailand, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, France, Australia, Nepal, Vietnam, Germany, and South Korea. A total of 132 people have died.
But the real toll may be much higher.
Hong Kong University infectious disease researchers have estimated that the virus may be spreading person-to-person in all of China’s major mainland cities, and that there are already 44,000 cases in Wuhan alone. UK-based researchers who have modeled the outbreak’s potential suggest there are likely many more cases — as many as 9,700, according to the upper end of their estimate. And the risk of rapid spread is heightened, as hundreds of millions have been traveling for China’s Lunar New Year.
3) How is the world responding?
Chinese authorities first warned people to stop traveling in and out of Wuhan, and then said they would put the city under quarantine beginning January 23, suspending public transport within Wuhan, and canceling flights and trains leaving the city. It was an extraordinary move given that Wuhan has a population of 11 million, more people than New York City. By the evening of January 24, quarantine measures had expanded to 12 cities near Wuhan, effectively stifling the movement of 35 million people. By January 25, President Xi Jinping said the new virus posed a “grave” threat, and his government ordered travel agencies to suspend tours for Chinese citizens inside China and overseas. The same day, Hong Kong authorities declared a state of emergency over the virus and closed schools for three weeks, while Beijing suspended all inter-province buses.
According to the New York Times, the government said the quarantine was needed to “effectively cut off the transmission of the virus, resolutely curb the spread of the epidemic, and ensure the safety and health of the people.” But the evidence for travel restrictions during outbreaks shows, counterintuitively, that they don’t actually do much to stop the spread of disease.
Health officials in China and the region are now scrambling to find cases through screening at transportation hubs and follow-up with the contacts of those infected with the virus — an effort that’s supported by the WHO.
Other countries at risk of imported cases have also implemented extraordinary measures. In the US, the CDC — along with the Homeland Security Department’s Customs and Border Protection — began screening travelers from Wuhan for the virus at US airports on January 17, and all travelers from the city will be funneled through airports that are looking out for cases. The US government evacuated American diplomats and citizens from Wuhan. Its also advising Americans to avoid non-essential travel to China. Hong Kong has suspended ferry and train links with mainland China, and cancelled flights. Meanwhile, several airlines have begun cancelling flights to China — including Air Canada, British Airways, and United.
4) What do we know about the cases in the US?
Right now there are five confirmed cases in the US, according to the CDC. All involved travelers from Wuhan:
The first patient’s name hasn’t been released, but we know he’s a resident of Snohomish County in Washington state. We also know he’s in his 30s and he recently traveled to Wuhan, returning to Seattle on January 15, two days before airport screening started (though the man didn’t have symptoms yet). By January 19, he reached out to health care providers to report his symptoms and travel history. They suspected 2019-nCoV. The man is being treated for mild pneumonia at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, Washington.
The second case, reported on January 24, involves a woman in her 60s who lives in Chicago. She returned from Wuhan on January 13 and didn’t have any symptoms while traveling. A few days after returning, when she started to feel ill, she called health care providers to report her symptoms and was admitted to a hospital and placed in isolation. She’s currently in stable condition.
The third, fourth, and fifth cases, reported over the weekend, concerned individuals in Orange County and LA County, California, and Maricopa County, Arizona, respectively. They had all recently traveled to Wuhan, and they’re receiving care in local hospitals.
As of January 25, CDC officials said they’ve screened over 2,000 people coming into the US for the disease on 200 flights, and found zero cases. The agency also said it’s investigating 100 possible cases of coronavirus in 26 states.
5) How does the new coronavirus spread?
We don’t yet know the exact way the virus is spreading, but we do know it’s part of a large family of viruses called coronaviruses, which mostly infect mammals, including bats. Coronaviruses attack the respiratory system, sometimes targeting the cells deep within the lungs. Only seven, including 2019-nCoV, SARS, and MERS, have evolved to infect humans.
According to the CDC, human coronaviruses are most commonly passed via:
Through coughing and sneezing
Close personal contact, including touching and shaking hands
Touching an object or surface with the virus on it, then touching your mouth, nose, or eyes before washing your hands
And rarely, through fecal contamination
As for how easily the new coronavirus spreads, that’s also unclear. According to a preliminary estimate from the WHO, at the moment, each individual has transmitted the virus to an average of 1.4 to 2.5 others. That makes 2019-nCoV, based on what we know now, less contagious than SARS. But there are many different estimates floating around as the situation evolves — and some suggest 2019-nCoV is even more contagious.
For the moment, the WHO estimates the virus’s incubation period — before symptoms start to show — is between two and 10 days, but it’s not yet known whether the virus can spread during that time.
We also know at least 15 health care workers have been infected. “It’s unusual to get health care worker infections in outbreaks,” explained Tom Inglesby, director of the Center for Health Security of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “It’s always a sign of alarm when that happens,” he added, because it means the virus may be easily transmitted, even in settings where people are taking precautions.
6) What are the symptoms of the new coronavirus?
Two of the seven coronaviruses that infect humans, SARS and MERS, can cause severe pneumonia and even death. The rest lead to milder symptoms, like a common cold. At the moment, it’s not clear where 2019-nCoV falls on that spectrum.
An early report, published in the Lancet, provided a good overview of what’s known about symptoms so far — in a subset of the first 41 patients with confirmed 2019-nCoV in Wuhan. The most common symptoms in this group were fever, cough, muscle pain, and fatigue; less common were headache, diarrhea, and coughing up mucus or blood. A little more than half of the 41 patients had difficulty breathing, and 63 percent had low levels of white blood cells. As for the disease severity: 13 patients were admitted to an ICU and six died. By January 22, 68 percent of the patients had been discharged from the hospital.
All patients had pneumonia and lung abnormalities on CT scans. (A quick refresher: Pneumonia is an infection in the lungs that can be caused by a variety of organisms — bacteria, fungi, viruses, even parasites. In this case, 2019-nCoV is causing the infection and leading the lungs’ air sacs to become inflamed and fill up with fluid or pus instead of air.)
In the Lancet group, most patients were men and over half didn’t have underlying diseases. The median age was 49.
It’s possible there are many more people with the virus who have very mild symptoms or who are asymptomatic, said Dr. Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, a research charity focused on global health. If that’s the case, and there are thousands carrying 2019-nCoV while only a few people have died, this outbreak will look milder.
It’s also possible this virus winds up behaving like SARS, said Inglesby, which kills about one in 10 patients infected. With SARS, “We saw substantial spread in health care settings where health care workers became ill during care for patients,” for example. “This is a very serious outbreak with the potential for widespread transmission.”
7) What’s the likelihood this becomes a global public health emergency?
The potential for this virus to spread further is so great that the WHO gathered an expert committee on Wednesday and Thursday last week to decide whether the emergence of 2019-nCoV constitutes a global public health emergency, a rare designation the agency gives outbreaks that pose an international threat.
By the end of Thursday, the WHO’s Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced the committee’s decision that the outbreak doesn’t yet constitute one, mainly because of the limited number of cases outside of China, and China’s efforts to control the spread of the disease.
“Make no mistake, this is an emergency in China. But it has not yet become a global health emergency,” Tedros explained. He also vowed to reconvene the emergency committee in the coming days to review new data. “At this time, there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission outside China, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen,” Tedros added.
Formally, a public health emergency of international concern, or PHEIC — pronounced “fake” — is defined as “an extraordinary event which is determined to constitute a public health risk to other States through the international spread of disease and to potentially require a coordinated international response.” In reality, it’s a political tool the WHO uses to sound the alarm about a serious disease that has caught the world off guard and put people’s health in danger. It’s meant to draw countries’ immediate attention, to galvanize resources, and stop the disease from spreading further across borders.
A key consideration in declaring a PHEIC is whether the disease threat is dire enough to risk countries enacting travel and trade restrictions. Declarations can be devastating to local economies and are often associated with economic losses. So they’re not taken lightly. In fact, the WHO has only declared a public health emergency five times since the International Health Regulations, which govern global health emergency responses, were enacted in 2007.
The first time was in 2009, with the outbreak of the H1N1 swine flu pandemic. The second time was in May 2014, when polio seemed to surge again, threatening the eradication effort. The third time, in August 2014, came as the Ebola outbreak in West Africa was growing out of control. The fourth was related to Zika in 2016. And the fifth, in 2019, was another outbreak of Ebola that’s ongoing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
8) How worried should I be about a pandemic?
There are too many unknowns to say. We don’t know which animal carries this virus. We don’t know how exactly it spreads. We don’t know how easily it spreads among people, or how deadly and severe the virus is.
To put the cases and deaths so far into perspective, remember that seasonal flu kills between 250,000 and 650,000 people each year. “Right now, you’re probably more likely to be catching flu than you are to be getting coronavirus,” said Devi Sridhar, chair in global public health at the University of Edinburgh.
Even so, the fact that cases are already turning up in so many countries — mere weeks after this outbreak was first declared — suggests we should brace ourselves for an escalation.
Messonnier of the CDC said there are likely to be more cases in the coming days — in the US and beyond. “This is a rapidly changing situation — abroad and domestically — and we’re still learning,” Messonnier added.
That doesn’t, however, mean American officials expect the US to be inundated with dozens of patients or that the virus will spread broadly within the country. It’s the major cities in and around China that are most at risk, according to a paper posted on January 14 in the Journal of Travel Medicine. The top travel destinations out of Wuhan — and most at risk of spread of the infection — include Bangkok, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Taipei.
Listen to Today, Explained
A SARS-like virus has sickened thousands in China, and made its way to the United States. Vox’s Julia Belluz explains what’s known and what’s next.
Subscribe to Today, Explained wherever you get your podcasts, including: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and ART19.


vox--2020-01-29--A casino company is buying Barstool Sports in a $450 million deal

A media company has become a sports betting company : The owner of Barstool Sports has agreed to sell the popular and controversial digital sports publisher to Penn National Gaming , a regional gambling operator .
The deal values Barstool , which has its roots as a rowdy Boston sports blog founded in 2003 , at an eye-popping $ 450 million .
This is the deal we told you about earlier this month , when Recode reported that The Chernin Group , which bought a majority stake in Barstool in 2016 , was close to selling the company to Penn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been briefed on the details , which are scheduled to be formally released Wednesday morning : Penn National will first buy a 36 percent stake in Barstool for $ 163 million in cash and stock — valuing the company at $ 450 million .
Three years later , the casino company will pay another $ 62 million to bring its stake to 50 percent , with the ability to buy controlling ownership for an amount to be determined at the time .
A person briefed on Barstool ’ s business estimates the company @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 100 million in revenue last year , with the majority of that coming from podcasts , merchandise sales , and gambling deals .
It ’ s a stunning deal for the digital media industry , coming as many publishers are retrenching after a round of ultimately disappointing Facebook-fueled optimism and investment .
And it ’ s a big payoff for the Chernin Group , which had reportedly invested some $ 25 million to buy controlling stakes in Barstool in 2016 and 2018 ; people familiar with Barstool estimate that Chernin owned around 60 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s deal .
That deal exists entirely because of a Supreme Court decision : In 2018 , a court ruling legalized sports gambling in the US , but left it up to individual states to decide if they wanted to approve of sports betting , and under what terms .
Since then , there ’ s been a rush by both media companies and the gambling industry to capitalize on what they both assume will be a boom in online betting .
Right now , the primary winners seem to be Draft @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that had spent huge sums of marketing money a few years ago , when they were operating as “ daily fantasy ” sports games .
The daily fantasy bubble deflated , but the investment those companies made exposing themselves to a young audience seems to have paid off .
Industry executives say those two companies are out-performing older , more established gambling brands in states where online sports betting is legal .
Penn National , which runs or owns dozens of low-profile casinos and hotels around the US ( its best-known property may @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , seems to think it can use Barstool ’ s brand to bring traffic to its casinos and an online betting app it wants to launch .
And Barstool has found an owner that is unlikely to be worried about its brand and content , which is both popular and oftentimes intentionally abrasive .
Barstool co-founder Dave Potnoy is expected to stay on at the company , along with CEO Erika Nardini and other employees .
Earlier this month , Barstool agreed to a settlement with the National Labor Relations Board , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ labor laws by tweeting threats to fire employees that tried to organize a union .
The agreement “ calls for the deletion of the tweets and removal of other anti-union material created by the company , ” Bloomberg reported .

A media company has become a sports betting company: The owner of Barstool Sports has agreed to sell the popular and controversial digital sports publisher to Penn National Gaming, a regional gambling operator.
The deal values Barstool, which has its roots as a rowdy Boston sports blog founded in 2003, at an eye-popping $450 million.
Earlier this month, I reported for Recode that the Chernin Group, which bought a majority stake in Barstool in 2016, was close to selling the company to Penn National.
The Wall Street Journal has been briefed on the details, which are scheduled to be formally released Wednesday morning: Penn National will first buy a 36 percent stake in Barstool for $163 million in cash and stock — valuing the company at $450 million. Three years later, the casino company will pay another $62 million to bring its stake to 50 percent, with the ability to buy controlling ownership for an amount to be determined at the time.
Here’s the official announcement, along with a very Barstool-like announcement, where Barstool founder Dave Portnoy tells his fans that they should buy Penn National’s stock, followed by a long legal disclaimer explaining that Portnoy doesn’t represent the views of Penn National and that his advice to buy Penn National stock shouldn’t be interpreted as financial advice:
Emergency Press Conference - All Aboard the Barstool Rocket Ship pic.twitter.com/NWK2n9PoIP — Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) January 29, 2020
A person briefed on Barstool’s business estimates the company generated between $90 million and $100 million in revenue last year, with the majority coming from podcasts, merchandise sales, and gambling deals.
It’s a stunning deal for the digital media industry, coming as many publishers are retrenching after a round of ultimately disappointing Facebook-fueled optimism and investment. And it’s a big payoff for the Chernin Group, which had reportedly invested some $25 million to buy controlling stakes in Barstool in 2016 and 2018; people familiar with Barstool estimate that Chernin owned around 60 percent of the company prior to today’s deal.
That deal exists entirely because of a Supreme Court decision: In 2018, a court ruling legalized sports gambling in the US, but left it up to individual states to decide if they wanted to approve of sports betting, and under what terms.
Since then, there’s been a rush by both media companies and the gambling industry to capitalize on what they both assume will be a boom in online betting. Right now, the primary winners seem to be DraftKings and FanDuel — two companies that had spent huge sums of marketing money a few years ago, when they were operating as “daily fantasy” sports games.
The daily fantasy bubble deflated, but the investment those companies made exposing themselves to a young audience seems to have paid off. Industry executives say those two companies are out-performing older, more established gambling brands in states where online sports betting is legal.
Penn National, which runs or owns dozens of low-profile casinos and hotels around the US (its best-known property may be the Tropicana in Las Vegas), seems to think it can use Barstool’s brand to bring traffic to its casinos and an online betting app it wants to launch. And Barstool has found an owner that is unlikely to be worried about its brand and content, which is both popular and oftentimes intentionally abrasive.
Barstool founder Dave Portnoy will stay on at the company, along with CEO Erika Nardini and other employees.
Earlier this month, Barstool agreed to a settlement with the National Labor Relations Board, which looked into charges that Portnoy had broken labor laws by tweeting threats to fire employees that tried to organize a union. The agreement “calls for the deletion of the tweets and removal of other anti-union material created by the company,” Bloomberg reported.


vox--2020-01-28--The New York Times used to be afraid of BuzzFeed. Now it’s hired its biggest star.

Ben Smith spent eight years building BuzzFeed ’ s news operation into a place that could compete with the New York Times .
Now he ’ s going to work for the New York Times .
Smith , BuzzFeed News ’ editor-in-chief , will become the Times ’ new media columnist in March .
That position was filled by the Times ’ s Jim Rutenberg for the past four years , but it is known in and outside of the paper as a platform created by the legendary David Carr , who died in 2015 .
It makes perfect sense @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Smith , a politics and media junkie with deep interest in the connections between Washington , New York , and Silicon Valley .
And Smith is one of several high-profile hires the Times has made from digital news operations .
It ’ s a marked evolution from 2014 , when the paper commissioned an internal report about how to compete with the likes of BuzzFeed and Vox .
Back then , the Times was only a few years away from a recession that looked like it might mortally wound the paper , even @ @ @ @ @ @ @ buzz .
Now , riding high on a business model that emphasizes subscriber revenue over advertising dollars , the Times is in a position to pick up talent from anywhere on the web and doesn ’ t think twice about it .
And the Voxs , BuzzFeeds , and Vices of the world are figuring out how to survive as cheap and plentiful investor money has disappeared , while smaller operations like Mic.com and Mashable have folded or sold at fire-sale prices .
Smith ’ s departure from BuzzFeed immediately raised questions about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ well-regarded , money-losing news team , which he constructed himself .
It also leaves BuzzFeed with two major hires to make : In addition to a successor to Smith , the company is still looking to hire a president to work under CEO Jonah Peretti as its top business executive .
NBC ’ s Dylan Byers first reported Smith ’ s move .
Smith ’ s move comes a year after his news group laid off several dozen employees — the first time BuzzFeed had major cuts to Smith ’ s department .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ had been able to protect the news group , even as BuzzFeed made other layoffs .
Smith says his departure isn ’ t connected to those cuts , and that he ’ s not concerned about BuzzFeed ’ s trajectory .
“ I ’ d been feeling that I wanted to get back to reporting , ” he told Recode , shortly after sharing the news at a company meeting .
But a Times source says the paper was certainly aware that BuzzFeed had retrenched in the last year , and that Smith @ @ @ @ @ @ @ One of Smith ’ s employees , speaking anonymously , said that in retrospect , Smith ’ s departure wasn ’ t a complete shock : “ I feel like he basically had gotten a little burned out on management .
I think there are reasonable questions about why now , but I think it was inevitable that he wasn ’ t going to stick around.
” Smith has periodically written columns for BuzzFeed , and in the last year launched his own newsletter for the site , where he interviewed presidential candidates @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Smith said he started talking to New York Times executives about the position in late December , which means the Times moved uncharacteristically quickly to hire him .
Peretti says Smith told him about his plan to leave a few weeks ago .
“ It was somewhat surprising , ” Peretti told Recode .
“ But I knew that Ben was itching to write more and think more , and have time .
… He ’ s a reporter first , and I know he often has that itch to write , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ some long piece .
“ It ’ s been eight years .
So it ’ s not like he ’ s flighty , ” he added .
Peretti said he expected BuzzFeed to turn a profit this year , buoyed by diversified revenue streams and a fast-growing commerce business .
But he said BuzzFeed News , with its 200 staffers , would still be operating in the red : “ We don ’ t need news to be profitable .
Our plan for the year is to lose money from news , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ profitable.
” The Times , meanwhile , has become a consistent acquirer of journalistic talent from digital publications .
Recode co-founder and editor-at-large Kara Swisher , for instance , is now a regular contributor to the Times op-ed page , and last year the Times hired Sarah Kliff , a star reporter at Vox.com , to joins its investigative team .
Smith is a well-known entity to many Times reporters and executives and has worked with several of them in earlier jobs , including Politico and the New York Observer .
And Smith @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in each other .
A Times profile of Smith in 2013 , for instance , described him as “ The Boy Wonder of BuzzFeed.
” And here ’ s a piece Smith wrote in November about the internal jockeying to replace Dean Baquet , the top Times editor , who is scheduled to step down from his job in 2022 .
If you don ’ t care about internal Times hires , you may still care about what happens to BuzzFeed News , which Smith built from a non-thing into a serious news @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and other legacy pubs for significant stories ; under Smith ’ s watch , BuzzFeed was a finalist for two Pulitzer Prizes .
Smith may always end up being best-known as the editor who published , in its entirety , the unvetted “ Trump Dossier ” in the runup to Trump ’ s inauguration , but under his watch BuzzFeed News wrote significant stories about everything from fixed tennis matches to Amazon ’ s worrisome network of delivery drivers .
But BuzzFeed News has also been a money pit for BuzzFeed .
It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ didn ’ t generate enough money to cover the costs of those teams .
For years , media insiders would speculate about BuzzFeed ’ s commitment to the large news operation , since the company ’ s revenue was coming from the advertising connected to its non-news operations , like quizzes and listicles .
Two years ago , when the Financial Times reported that Smith had floated the notion of carving out BuzzFeed News from the rest of the company and getting someone like billionaire Laurene Powell Jobs to fund the operation , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ good idea .
Now he ’ s headed to a news company that has far fewer question marks .
Here ’ s an interview I conducted with Smith in September .
And here ’ s one I did with Peretti earlier this month :

Ben Smith spent eight years building BuzzFeed’s news operation into a place that could compete with the New York Times. Now he’s going to work for the New York Times.
Smith, BuzzFeed News’ editor-in-chief, will become the Times’ new media columnist in March. That position was filled by the Times’s Jim Rutenberg for the past four years, but it is known in and outside of the paper as a platform created by the legendary David Carr, who died in 2015.
It makes perfect sense that the Times would want to hire Smith, a politics and media junkie with deep interest in the connections between Washington, New York, and Silicon Valley.
And Smith is one of several high-profile hires the Times has made from digital news operations. It’s a marked evolution from 2014, when the paper commissioned an internal report about how to compete with the likes of BuzzFeed and Vox.
Back then, the Times was only a few years away from a recession that looked like it might mortally wound the paper, even as online upstarts picked up funding and buzz. Now, riding high on a business model that emphasizes subscriber revenue over advertising dollars, the Times is in a position to pick up talent from anywhere on the web and doesn’t think twice about it. And the Voxs, BuzzFeeds, and Vices of the world are figuring out how to survive as cheap and plentiful investor money has disappeared, while smaller operations like Mic.com and Mashable have folded or sold at fire-sale prices.
Smith’s departure from BuzzFeed immediately raised questions about the future of that organization’s well-regarded, money-losing news team, which he constructed himself. It also leaves BuzzFeed with two major hires to make: In addition to a successor to Smith, the company is still looking to hire a president to work under CEO Jonah Peretti as its top business executive. NBC’s Dylan Byers first reported Smith’s move.
Smith’s move comes a year after his news group laid off several dozen employees — the first time BuzzFeed had major cuts to Smith’s department. Up until then, Smith and Peretti had been able to protect the news group, even as BuzzFeed made other layoffs.
Smith says his departure isn’t connected to those cuts, and that he’s not concerned about BuzzFeed’s trajectory. “I’d been feeling that I wanted to get back to reporting,” he told Recode, shortly after sharing the news at a company meeting. But a Times source says the paper was certainly aware that BuzzFeed had retrenched in the last year, and that Smith might be open to a move.
One of Smith’s employees, speaking anonymously, said that in retrospect, Smith’s departure wasn’t a complete shock: “I feel like he basically had gotten a little burned out on management. I think there are reasonable questions about why now, but I think it was inevitable that he wasn’t going to stick around.”
Smith has periodically written columns for BuzzFeed, and in the last year launched his own newsletter for the site, where he interviewed presidential candidates and other political figures via text message.
Smith said he started talking to New York Times executives about the position in late December, which means the Times moved uncharacteristically quickly to hire him. Peretti says Smith told him about his plan to leave a few weeks ago.
“It was somewhat surprising,” Peretti told Recode. “But I knew that Ben was itching to write more and think more, and have time. … He’s a reporter first, and I know he often has that itch to write, and would occasionally disappear and go write some long piece.
“It’s been eight years. So it’s not like he’s flighty,” he added.
Peretti said he expected BuzzFeed to turn a profit this year, buoyed by diversified revenue streams and a fast-growing commerce business. But he said BuzzFeed News, with its 200 staffers, would still be operating in the red: “We don’t need news to be profitable. Our plan for the year is to lose money from news, and for BuzzFeed as a whole to be profitable.”
The Times, meanwhile, has become a consistent acquirer of journalistic talent from digital publications. Recode co-founder and editor-at-large Kara Swisher, for instance, is now a regular contributor to the Times op-ed page, and last year the Times hired Sarah Kliff, a star reporter at Vox.com, to joins its investigative team.
Smith is a well-known entity to many Times reporters and executives and has worked with several of them in earlier jobs, including Politico and the New York Observer. And Smith and the Times have long been interested in each other.
A Times profile of Smith in 2013, for instance, described him as “The Boy Wonder of BuzzFeed.” And here’s a piece Smith wrote in November about the internal jockeying to replace Dean Baquet, the top Times editor, who is scheduled to step down from his job in 2022.
If you don’t care about internal Times hires, you may still care about what happens to BuzzFeed News, which Smith built from a non-thing into a serious news organization that routinely competed with the Times and other legacy pubs for significant stories; under Smith’s watch, BuzzFeed was a finalist for two Pulitzer Prizes.
Smith may always end up being best-known as the editor who published, in its entirety, the unvetted “Trump Dossier” in the runup to Trump’s inauguration, but under his watch BuzzFeed News wrote significant stories about everything from fixed tennis matches to Amazon’s worrisome network of delivery drivers.
But BuzzFeed News has also been a money pit for BuzzFeed. It had a large team, and it didn’t generate enough money to cover the costs of those teams. For years, media insiders would speculate about BuzzFeed’s commitment to the large news operation, since the company’s revenue was coming from the advertising connected to its non-news operations, like quizzes and listicles.
Two years ago, when the Financial Times reported that Smith had floated the notion of carving out BuzzFeed News from the rest of the company and getting someone like billionaire Laurene Powell Jobs to fund the operation, the idea seemed both impractical and a good idea. Now he’s headed to a news company that has far fewer question marks.
Here’s an interview I conducted with Smith in September. And here’s one I did with Peretti earlier this month: