The fantasy sports industry lobby has hired a new executive director to work with legislators in allowing a wider breadth of betting options to DFS operators.
Powering Up
Some daily fantasy sports (DFS) operators have ventured into murky legal territory by offering pick’em contests that are effectively parlays being bet against the house. Some states like New York and Florida have outlawed the practice, considering them the province of mobile sportsbooks. Nevertheless, a new push by the industry lobby group, the Coalition for Fantasy Sports, has hired a new executive director with government experience to navigate the next round of DFS legislation.
J.T. Foley, a veteran of the gaming industry who spent 17 years as a Las Vegas Sands’ government relations executive, has been chosen as the Coalition’s executive director. Foley has the requisite experience and governmental relationships that could prove pivotal in ushering in a new era for daily fantasy sports.
“I’m thrilled to join the Coalition for Fantasy Sports,” Foley said in a release announcing the appointment. “We will work with member companies to create the laws we need to grow this industry. Our member companies are leading on consumer protections and eager to share what we know with emerging DFS providers so that we can establish and preserve a safe and legal ecosystem.”
What’s Next?
The selection of Foley as the Coalition for Fantasy Sports’ new leader signals a sea change in how the industry will approach the issue of getting pick’em contests back on its betting menu. The industry’s willingness to work with legislators as opposed to fighting regulatory rulings will likely have a more positive effect.
PrizePicks attorney Derek Schmidt said, “It makes a lot more sense to work with regulators, as you can, to help them do their job and point to what’s been done in other states, but really, it’s going to be legislatures sooner or later that make this decision.”
Ironically, one of the biggest DFS companies, FanDuel, also happens to be one of the largest mobile sports betting sites in the nation and has been vocal in its insistence that its rival DFS operators that are offering pick’em contests are essentially running an illegal bookmaking operation.
FanDuel’s Head of State Government Relations, Cesar Fernandez, was quoted as saying at the National Council of Legislators from the Gaming States last summer, “There are companies today posing as fantasy-sports operators, and they are running illegal sportsbooks.”
Pick’em or Leave’em
FanDuel’s sports betting wing is far more lucrative than its DFS site and those rival DFS operators that run pick’em contests are booking the action instead of taking a small commission and running it as a peer-to-peer competition like a traditional daily fantasy sports tournament.
Because the pick’em contests so closely resemble a standard parlay that one would bet at a sports betting site, 10 states including Arizona, California, Florida, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Virginia, and Wyoming have either banned the pick’em contests or have curtailed them in some way.
Last year the Coalition for Fantasy Sports took aim at both FanDuel and DraftKings for their stances against pick’em contests, saying, “It’s unfortunate DraftKings and FanDuel, the same companies that championed fantasy sports as skill-based for years, have changed their tune at the first sign of competition. It’s a thinly veiled attempt to create a false narrative and position themselves as the only games in town.”
