The New York State Assembly overwhelmingly voted in favor to pass the daily fantasy sports bill, ruling that daily fantasy sports is not gambling.
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If you’ve been following this story over the last few months, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman declared late previous year that DFS offerings from sites like DraftKings and FanDuel were deemed as “illegal forms of gambling” under current NY gaming laws.
Assuming Governor Cuomo will do what everyone expects him to do and sign the bill into law, the state of NY will stand to earn up to $6 million a year in additional tax revenues from DFS companies in operation there.
Legislators in Albany voted early Saturday to regulate and tax the matches.
Cuomo, a Democrat, has not said whether he supports the legislation. The Assembly has already endorsed the measure.
“It’s a good thing for New Yorkers because there are more than three and half million participants, majority millennials”, Pretlow said, according to Reuters.
DraftKings, which has dominated the industry along with FanDuel, praised the legislation as providing what it called a “sensible framework for regulating our games”.
The state will tax the contests, charging companies that run them 15.5% of their gross revenue. Another 0.5 percent will be assessed each year on the companies with a maximum of $50,000. John Bonacic, the Ulster County Republican who sponsored the legislation.
“We believe passing this law is the right thing for our community, our company and most importantly, the people of NY state”, FanDuel CEO Nigel Eccles wrote in a blog post earlier in the week.
After intense lobbying from the fantasy gaming industry, which retained former pro quarterbacks Jim Kelly and Vinny Testaverde to promote the games, lawmakers beat a June 30 deadline to set regulations.
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The state attorney general says Saturday he’ll pursue previously filed false advertising and consumer fraud claims against the country’s top two companies.
