In Good News For Fantasy Sports Innovation, New York Approves Boom Fantasy License


Written By

Updated on

New York DFS

The New York State Gaming Commission has approved Boom Fantasy for operation in the state, according to the daily fantasy sports site.

The move comes after regulators for New York DFS had drafted rules that seek to keep sites that approximate “proposition betting” out of the state.

Boom Fantasy in New York

New York enacted a law legalizing and regulating paid-entry fantasy sports a year ago. Boom had not yet received a license, nor had it been operating in the state during that time.

It’s not clear why exactly regulators in the state had drug their heels on licensing Boom. But state Sen. John Bonacic, the chief sponsor of the law, made his case for NYSGC approving Boom in a letter to regulators earlier this month.

“We’re excited to finally offer New York DFS players an alternative to the traditional salary-cap contest,” said Stephen Murphy, CEO of Boom Fantasy. “It’s no secret that the DFS industry has been starved for innovation. The basic format of salary-cap contests hasn’t changed in 10 years.

“This permit, which we received after a comprehensive regulatory review by the New York State Gaming Commission, proves that there are fun, innovative ways to legally offer DFS contests that other operators have ignored.”

Boom says it will pay out “millions of dollars in cash prizes this NFL season.”

The approval also comes after Boom had raised $2 million earlier in the year. The prospect of the NY-based DFS operator not being able to operate in one of the most populous US jurisdictions — and its home state — might have been a nightmare scenario for the start-up.

Other forms of DFS

Coming up with a version of DFS that is easier to play than the salary-cap model made popular by industry giants DraftKings and FanDuel has been a trend of late:

They are all different versions of daily fantasy that appear to abide by federal law, as well as fantasy sports laws passed in 16 states to date that formally legalized the industry.

The number of companies DFS has thinned

Where once there were dozens of operators attempting to get a slice of the DFS industry, the number of companies with decent liquidity outside of DraftKings and FanDuel has been whittled down. Other than Boom, those companies include:

All of them are certainly hoping to gain meaningful market share during the daily fantasy football season. But those prospects are daunting after the DK-FD merger was called off.