It was a big, old “nothing burger” for daily fantasy sports legislation last week, but there was no shortage of DFS news, as the merger of DraftKings and FanDuel has been officially nixed by the two companies.
On the sports betting front, there are a number of interesting plot twists and turns to discuss as New Jersey’s case awaits a date in the Supreme Court. On a related note, Connecticut further positioned itself to be among the first sports-betting states should New Jersey win that case.
DFS legislation update
As noted above, when it comes to legislation, it was all quiet on the front. However, there is still a lot of active DFS legislation in statehouses across the country.
The DFS bill tally
The number of states that have introduced bills to legalize DFS in 2017 remains at 25. And the number of states with active legislation stands at 18:
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Illinois
- Iowa
- Kentucky
- Maine
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Montana
- Nebraska
- New Jersey
- New Hampshire
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- Texas
- Vermont
- Washington
Legal Sports Report’s legislative tracker has up-to-the-minute updates on all DFS legislation.
No merger for you!
The big news of the week was DraftKings and FanDuel 86’ing their proposed merger.
The merger has been in jeopardy ever since the feds announced they would fight to stop the marriage of the two DFS powerhouses, as the Federal Trade Commission had concerns about a potential monopoly should the two companies become one.
Apparently the two companies concluded they didn’t have much of a chance of winning the argument against the FTC — or it would have taken too much money and time — and withdrew their lawsuit earlier this week.
Both companies also issued statements calling off the deal, and in an email to customers, DraftKings wrote:
“Today we formally terminated our merger with FanDuel and will withdraw litigation from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). This means we will move forward as a separate company, which we believe is the best course in the interest of you – our customers and avid sports fans.”
Sports betting legalization update
Connecticut makes it official
After Gov. Dan Malloy signed a bill authorizing to regulate sports betting should changes to federal law allow it, Connecticut is likely to be one of the first states in the US to offer legal sports betting … that is, if New Jersey can win its Supreme Court case.
Legal Sports Report’s Dustin Gouker has more on this story here.
SCOTUS update
Speaking of the Supreme Court case, there is no shortage of insights, opinions, and analysis being served up.
The great debate
There’s an ongoing Twitter debate about the possibility of online sports betting and how quickly it might occur.
Chief Justice sympathetic to NJ?
There’s also the news that Chief Justice John Roberts once filed a brief on behalf of the casino industry in a 1999 case.
MLB wants to weigh in on regulations
And finally, there are the comments of MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, who said the following to The Associated Press:
“If there’s going to be a change in the regulatory structure with respects to sports gambling, we needed to be in a position to meaningfully engage and shape, try to shape what the new regulatory scheme looks like … We’re in the process of talking to our owners and figuring out where we want to be in the event that there is in fact a significant change coming.”
Sports betting legislation
There are nine states that have either taken up the fight to repeal PASPA or are exploring legislation that would authorize sports betting — again, if federal sports betting laws were to change:
- Connecticut
- Hawaii
- Maryland
- Michigan
- New Jersey
- New York
- Pennsylvania
- South Carolina
- West Virginia
