Harris said the board will help ensure that daily fantasy sports games are run honestly through new controls such as a regular auditing process to keep tabs on whether companies are complying with the rules.
Advertisement
Define what what is considered daily fantasy sports in Illinois and ensure that it is not gambling under the state’s criminal laws.
Bar anyone younger than 18 from playing.
“The FSTA will continue to work closely with state and federal lawmakers and regulators as we develop and implement strong integrity programs”, Harris said in a release.
Those concerns gained more traction after it was revealed last month that a DraftKings employee with access to inside data had won a $350,000 prize on FanDuel. A paying participant on the site drafts a team of predominantly offensive players who earn points by gaining yards and scoring touchdowns. It could also change the landscape for how the industry’s two giants, FanDuel and DraftKings, operate.
Rep. Joe Atkins of Inver Grove Heights says he doesn’t want a ban, but he wants background checks of the companies engaged in that quickly growing industry.
Privately held DraftKings and FanDuel say they are producing revenue. But the episode has led to new calls from federal and state officials to more strictly regulate fantasy sports, which have operated in a legal grey area in a few states.
The question is open enough, Zalewski said, that the General Assembly must take a look at it. Both companies soon banned employees from playing on other fantasy sites, but DraftKings announced that an internal investigation and a third-party investigation found that no internal insider information gave that employee an edge.
State Sen. Kwame Raoul, D-Chicago, is sponsoring the legislation in the Senate. “Minnesotans should know they’re not going to be ripped off when they engage in fantasy sports betting”.
The legislation will get a few pushback from gambling opponents. “We believe season-long fantasy is much different than that”, Goodell said. “They’re about winning money – in a few cases, up to a million dollars”. “You are putting money at risk, and so from that standpoint, I think in terms of the integrity of those businesses, the confidence that fans have, that consumers have in playing those games, I think regulation is in order”, Silver said.
The self-regulation effort comes after DraftKings and FanDuel were forced to close their games to Nevada residents earlier in October after the state’s Gaming Control Board ruled that daily fantasy sports are the same thing as sports gambling and require a casino license. Kansas, which considers fantasy sports games to be games of skill, represents the other end of the spectrum.
Advertisement
He would assigned the regulatory authority over these websites to Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who would likely consult with the Illinois Gaming Board, the state’s gambling authority, if the bill were to become law.
