More than three dozen states are involved in a growing movement by legislators to make online sports fantasy competition legal in exchange for regulations and taxes on the rapidly growing industry.
In the past year, Kansas, Virginia, Indiana, Tennessee, Mississippi, Colorado and Missouri have legalized daily or weekly fantasy sports betting. Bills have been introduced in another 30 states and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation last week and Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker is expected to do the same in the coming days.
According to The Hill, about one in six Americans participates in online fantasy sports, which is a largely unregulated industry. Congress left a gray area in place for fantasy sports when it banned online gambling, so it’s up to the states to take action, if any.
The legislation that has passed or is in the works only affects daily and weekly competition on sites such as Draft Kings and FanDuel, which involve frequent payouts to players. The rules do not affect noncommercial fantasy sports leagues such as those run by Yahoo and ESPN, which take place over an entire season and typically involve casual competition between friends and co-workers.
In fact, the industry has been receptive to regulations such as those adopted in Virginia and those up for approval in Maryland, The Washington Post reported.
The Maryland regulations would ban individuals younger than 18 from joining commercial fantasy leagues, limit participants to $1,000 in monthly deposits to their player accounts, bar game operators from extending credit to members, and require the companies to comply with tax laws and notify participants of their potential tax obligations.
