Massachusetts Attorney General Reviewing The Legality Of Draft Kings & Daily Fantasy Sports

[HacheMan]

Attorney general ‘reviewing’ fantasy sports site Draft Kings

Bob McGovern
Thursday, September 17, 2015

Attorney General Maura Healey is looking into the legality of Draft Kings — a hyper-popular fantasy sports website that allows users to gamble on teams they create with real-life players.

“The point is this: This is a new industry. It’s something that we’re reviewing, and we’ll learn more about it,” Healey told the State House News service, referring to the Boston-based company.

Healey’s office would not expand on her statements and declined to define what the AG meant by “review.”

Online sports wagering and online gambling was outlawed the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act more than 20 years ago. However, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which passed in 2006, carved out an exemption for fantasy games.

Whether or not it gives a loophole to gamble on daily fantasy sports is a murky area of law. States have the ability to make their own determination as to the legality of daily fantasy sports contests, according to Daniel Wallach, a sports law attorney.

Draft Kings insists it is a game of skill and not a game of chance — a distinction that it says makes its business legal.

“The legality of daily fantasy sports is the same as that of season long fantasy sports. Federal Law and 45 of the 50 US States allow skill based gaming,” Draft Kings says on its website. “Daily fantasy sports is a skill game and is not considered gambling.”

 

[PatsFan1283]

BostonBettor started a thread on this.

I said I think she is just trying to grab headlines. DK is a Boston-based company, I doubt MA would be the state to do anything about it.

 

[HacheMan]

[h=1]Legality of DraftKings sports-fantasy site under scrutiny by attorney general[/h]
patriotledger
Posted Sep. 17, 2015

BOSTON -- Attorney General Maura Healey, a casino opponent, is reviewing the legality of the Boston-based fantasy sports website Draft Kings.​

Asked about the legality of the business that lists its location at Post Office Square, Healey told the News Service on Wednesday, "The point is this: This is a new industry. It's something that we're reviewing, and we'll learn more about it."​

Ads for the site, where money can be won in fantasy sports, are nearly inescapable as the professional football season gets underway.​

Congressman Frank Pallone Jr., a New Jersey Democrat, on Monday requested the House Energy and Commerce Committee hold a hearing on the legality of fantasy sports. The congressman said an estimated 57 million people will participate in fantasy sports this year in the U.S. and Canada.​

"Fans are currently allowed to risk money on the performance of an individual player. How is that different than wagering money on the outcome of a game?" Pallone asked in a statement.​

The site maintains it hosts a game of skill and is legal under U.S. and Canadian law, though it bars residents of Arizona, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana and Washington from participating because of local regulations.​

"We take the legal status of our contests very seriously," the site says in an FAQ on its website. Attempts to reach someone at the company by phone were unsuccessful.​

"These are skill-based games that match sports fans against each other in a contest of sports knowledge and strategy that is fundamentally different from wagering on the performance of an individual player or the outcome of a particular game," Peter Schoenke, chairman of the Fantasy Sports Trade Association, told the Boston Globe in a statement.​

Beacon Hill lawmakers on Tuesday heard testimony on bills calling for the Massachusetts Lottery to launch online games and authorizing the Lottery to run a website featuring online skill games, including fantasy sports and poker.​

While Lottery vendors expressed concerns that online games would pull customers away from their stores, Sen. Michael Rush (D-West Roxbury) said during the hearing that he felt his proposal (S 191) took into account the concerns from store owners and other stakeholders, while also allowing the state to capture some of the millions of dollars spent annually on fantasy sports and other skill games.​

"The future of gaming is before us, and it's changing very, very quickly," Rush said. "It's important that we as the commonwealth grasp it, enhance the technology and move with it."​

Pallone described himself in a press release as "a strong advocate for legalized and regulated professional sports betting and the billions in profits it would bring to New Jersey."

"Anyone who watched a game this weekend was inundated by commercials for fantasy sports websites, and it's only the first week of the NFL season," Pallone said. "These sites are enormously popular, arguably central to the fans' experience, and professional leagues are seeing the enormous profits as a result. Despite how mainstream these sites have become, the legal landscape governing these activities remains murky and should be reviewed."​

The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) "prohibits sports betting nationally, except in states in states that legalized sports betting prior to passage of PASPA," according to Pallone's office, which said that online sports betting and online gambling are also prohibited under federal law. However, Pallone says federal law also features a fantasy sports "carve out" that the congressman says is a "loophole" that "has blurred the lines between betting conducted through fantasy sports sites and online gambling."​

 

[theMadMan]

Suprised by this?

 

[Mr.Jones]

Suprised by this?

The only thing I am surprised by is the multi millions spent on a crazy ad blitz that could only result in the immediate backlash that is so apparent with just a google search. But the DFS power brokers are not stupid people, I would think. So this must be in fact a plan to accelerate the inevitable march to legalized sports betting.

Either that, or we have just seen insane and absolute greed completely trump any semblance of reason.

 

[doubledeuce22]

The only thing I am surprised by is the multi millions spent on a crazy ad blitz that could only result in the immediate backlash that is so apparent with just a google search. But the DFS power brokers are not stupid people, I would think. So this must be in fact a plan to accelerate the inevitable march to legalized sports betting.

Either that, or we have just seen insane and absolute greed completely trump any semblance of reason.

The answer is your second point, but ultimately it will accelerate the first one happening.