A look at what happened recently in the industry of daily fantasy sports, and what to watch for:
Missouri, Colorado turn on the lights
Friday was a good day for daily fantasy sports, as two states officially legalized the industry.
Colorado and Missouri became the fifth and sixth states to pass DFS legislation this year. The governors of both states, as expected, signed bills into law.
Those states joined Indiana, Virginia, Tennessee and Mississippi in passing DFS laws in 2016. Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey also enacted DFS regulations this year.
This week, watch for action in Pennsylvania, and more importantly, New York…
New York state of mind
While the wins in the aforementioned two states were welcome news for DFS lobbyists and proponents, they pale in comparison to the stakes in New York.
The state legislature has just three working days left — lawmakers adjourn on June 16 — and a number of steps remaining for any legislation to become law. Things looked promising early in the week, with reports that the Senate and Assembly had reached concurrence on DFS regulation.
Then, reports on social media indicated that the push had met some problems:
2 days after Sen. Bonacic says deal on #DFS in NYS,Sen GOP disagree on matter behind closed doors today.Lawmakers now gone til nxt Tuesday.
— Tom Precious (@TomPreciousALB) June 9, 2016
There’s at least a chance DFS language ends up in an omnibus bill at the end of the session. But right now, what is going to happen with the legislation is anyone’s guess. There are plenty of other major issues also on the legislature’s plate.
If a law isn’t passed, the matter of DFS’ legality will head back to the courts, as a part of DraftKings’ and FanDuel‘s settlement with Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
U.S. Open, on the tee
Last year, golf was the hot vertical in DFS, led by DraftKings offering huge prize pools around the PGA Tour majors.
In April, DraftKings guaranteed $4 million for its top contest based on the Masters. And while it turned a profit for the site, it also didn’t sell out.
Fast-forward to this week, and the U.S. Open is on tap, with $3.5 million guaranteed for a $20 buy-in contest. So far, about 30,000 of the 200,000 available entries have been filled.
It will be interesting to see where the appetite for DFS golf is, and how much the continued absence of key states like New York might affect the bottom line.
