Yet another state is weighing the option of regulating daily fantasy sports. Georgia’s state senator Renee Unterman has proposed legislation that would put certain restrictions on the industry but would refrain from calling daily fantasy sports a form of gambling.
Unterman claims, in her bid to pass the legislation, that fantasy sports games are not games of pure chance.
“Fantasy sports is a game of skill vs. going to the convenience store and plopping down three dollars and you get scratch off tickets,” she said. “This is completely different.”
The legislation limits the play of Daily Fantasy Sports to 18 years and above and would make it mandatory for operators to register in Georgia if they have players from the state on their books. Operators will need to pay an initial $50,000 fee, and $10,000 each year thereafter. These fees will be put towards state-backed education programs, such as scholarships for college students.
The bill would also ban employees at DFS operators such as DraftKings and FanDuel to play.
Around 1.5 million people play DFS sports in Georgia – a state where most forms of gambling, other than the lottery and amusement machines, are banned.
“When you have got a million and a half people this year, you’ll probably have two million next year, and I think those consumers deserve to have a regulated industry,” said Unterman, who wants the bill to essentially differentiate DFS from other forms of gambling.
But not everyone is convinced that the state senator’s motives are altruistic. Attorney Page Pate said: “I think it is more of an attempt to convince people that this is a good law because we’re gonna regulate these folks, when in fact I think this is something the industry is pushing to make it clear that it is legal.”
Georgia’s Attorney General, Sam Olens did not comment on the matter this week, but it is expected that his office will come out with a statement in due time. Last year, the AG hinted that he would be investigating whether DFS sites went against state gambling prohibitions. Olens said that the issue was pending in his office after Georgia Lottery officials sent letters to FanDuel and DraftKings regarding the legality of their operations in Georgia.
The Georgia Lottery is in the process of reviewing the bill proposed by Unterman and said it wouldn’t comment until completion.
