So far into 2016, not even a single state has voted down a Daily Fantasy Sports Bill in the committee or the general assembly. After California and Indiana, Virginia happily joins the list of states where a state house body has passed a DFS legislation. The bill, titled the SB 646, was passed with a positive vote before a full chamber in Virginia, and is now heading towards the House of Delegates. Ironically, however, chatter regarding the passing of this bill has been kept to a minimum in this state, almost awkwardly so. It has, however, gotten a certain amount of coverage, and will probably receive more in the near future.
Among the highlights of this bill include the prerequisite for DFS operators to register with the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, a licensing fee of $50,000 per operator, a minimum age of 18 to participate in the DFS, a civil penalty of $1,000 on violating the terms of the bill and so forth. The idea behind the bill is to exempt DFS from gambling law and implement basic consumer protections when it comes to the Daily Fantasy Sports.
So far, the DFS industry has been off to a shaky start, at best, with the beginning of 2016. Several major companies have taken direct hits to their business, as state policymakers have left no chance at serious investigation into their dealings.
FanDuel, a leader in the industry, was recently forced to lay off 55 people in its Florida office. ESPN and DraftKings were forced to put an end to an exclusive advertising partnership. Thus, incidents were lined up one after another that proved the incompetence of this industry in this new year. Several business spokespersons have, however, raised their voice to calm the panic about the fall of the industry.
FanDuel’s CEO Nigel Eccles said to the Associate Press: “What you’re seeing is an industry that’s very quickly going from an unregulated state to a regulated state. Whenever you have that, there’s going to be turmoil.”
As much as business owners would like to deny, it is clear that the start of the year hasn’t been very pleasing for DFS. Lovers of fantasy sports can only hope that the industry will quickly recover itself in the coming months.
