One of the greatest professional shames of my life was being part of a fantasy sports for profit startup. We received tens of millions of funding from a company that is one of the major sport book operators in Las Vegas. What I first thought would be a fun way for friends to play with a little more "skin in the game" exposed me to some very bleak and dystopian ways that technology could be used to extract resources from those who could least afford it.

I suppose it is no surprise to anyone semi-aware of how casinos operate that the house will always win. Would it be a surprise to learn that the data being generated by fantasy sports app customers were being used to actively create situations where they would lose, or at least reduce, the amount of their winnings? It shouldn't be.