Fox News – The trash talk around the water cooler is already underway as hordes of fantasy football players get ready to draft their teams. The NFL has even gotten into the act with a web site for stats and strategies.

But managing a dream team of real players could get some betting fans in hot water with the authorities. In states where high-stakes fantasy sports technically falls under the definition of prohibited gambling, players could be risking more than their pride.

Much of the confusion over the legality of operating and participating in fantasy league-land centers on murky state gaming laws clashing with broad federal policies.

“In many cases, state regulations are stricter than federal regulations,” law professor Marc Edelman told FoxNews.com. “Most fantasy agreements — especially those in any chance states — violate state law.”

“Chance states” are those that prohibit or limit the legality of a player getting paid if a game involves an entry fee or prize, or if the outcome of the game relies on an element of chance.

The argument some make, though, is that the victor of a fantasy game is determined through skill, not chance.

Arizona, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana and Vermont are among the “chance states,” said Edelman, a law professor at City University of New York, Baruch College, Zicklin School of Business.

Federally, the law that regulates online gambling — called the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 — protects fantasy football leagues, though players are supposed to report their winnings to the IRS.

But some states like Florida say they want no part of the fantasy phenomenon and have technically banned it. Other states are less clear with the laws they have on the books and what it means for pay-to-play groups.

Once a novelty game between industry friends, fantasy football has skyrocketed into a national obsession, complete with armchair general managers and game-day experts giddy over calling the shots from their man (and woman) caves.