Two new daily fantasy sports bills were introduced this week, while a hearing in Minnesota may be setting up a showdown between the DFS industry and the state’s tribes.
On the sports betting front, pundits are paying close attention to West Virginia’s legislation, which if enacted and challenged would bring the legal battle to federal court.
Here’s a look at all of the developments on the sports betting and DFS fronts over the past seven days.
DFS legislation update
Two more states have introduced legislation to legalize and regulate DFS, Arkansas and North Carolina. Neither of the bills — HB 2250 in Arkansas or HB 279 in North Carolina — stand out in any meaningful from much of the legislation that has been introduced around the country.
The number of states that have introduced legislation seeking to legalize DFS in 2017 now stands at 21 – we’ve eliminated several states that are revising or making appropriations to existing DFS laws from the list below:
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- Connecticut
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Illinois
- Iowa
- Kentucky
- Minnesota
- Montana
- Nebraska
- New Jersey
- New Hampshire
- North Carolina
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- Texas
- Vermont
- Washington
Legal Sports Report’s legislative tracker has up-to-the-minute updates on all DFS legislation.
Minnesota takes its second crack at legalizing DFS
Representatives for the DFS industry and Minnesota lawmakers discussed legalizing and regulating daily fantasy sports at a hearing on Thursday, but it’s not the House the industry has to convince.
The Minnesota House passed a DFS bill and is likely to do so again this year. But the real roadblock is in the = Senate, where last year’s bill died, most likely because of tribal opposition.
Dueling With Kings takes the reader inside the world of DFS
Dustin Gouker plowed his way through Daniel Barbarisi’s fascinating new book on the daily fantasy industry, Dueling with Kings: High Stakes, Killer Sharks, and the Get-Rich Promise of Daily Fantasy Sports. The book gives the reader an insider’s view of what was one of the most tumultuous years in gaming history.
You can read Gouker’s very positive review of the book at Legal Sports Report.
Sports betting legislation update
It was relatively slow week on the sports betting front, which gave analysts, observers and pundits a chance to step back and take stock of where the current fight to legalize sports betting in the United States stands.
Michigan held a hearing on sports betting, but it’s not clear the bill is going to go anywhere.
The number of states that have taken up the cause to repeal PASPA, or pre-committing to legalizing sports betting should federal laws change stands at eight:
- Hawaii
- Maryland
- Michigan
- New Jersey
- New York
- Pennsylvania
- South Carolina
- West Virginia
Implications of aggressive West Virginia sports betting bill
Attorney Daniel Wallach penned a two-part series for Legal Sports Report on the sports betting legislation that surfaced in West Virginia last week.
You can read Wallach’s thoughts on the brewing sports betting challenge here and here.
According to Wallach, the West Virginia legislation is more emphatic in its PASPA challenges, which he believes will give the state “standing” to bring the case to court.
Wallach goes on to note that the challenge would occur in a different court or courts than New Jersey, beginning with the US District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia.
“The judicial makeup of that court offers no hints as to whether it would be a favorable forum for the type of “federalism” arguments that would likely be advanced by West Virginia. That court is evenly divided between Republican and Democratic judicial appointees (three each).
Looking further ahead, the Fourth Circuit US Court of Appeals has long been considered one of most politically conservative federal appellate courts in the country.”
