Paid Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) contests in New York are legal again in time for the NCAA and NFL football seasons.
The New York Gaming Commission issued temporary permits to five DFS operators to continue doing business in the state.
Those operators are DraftKings, FanDuel, Yahoo, FantasyDraft and Draft. DraftKings resumed its paid contests within hours of the recent Gaming Commission decision.
“While the Commission continues work on formal regulations for these games, these temporary permits get companies up and running in New York State while assuring resident players that safeguards are in place,” Gaming Commission Executive Director Robert Williams said in a statement.
New York lawmakers recently determined DFS is a game of skill, rather than chance, which ended state Attorney General Erick Schneiderman’s ban on DFS contests in the state.
The New York Attorney General last fall ended paid DFS contests in the state, saying they were a form of unregulated wagering and games of chance. The new state law, though, rendered Schneiderman’s opposition moot.
Schneiderman said he will continue pursuing false advertising claims against DFS operators FanDuel and DraftKings, though, for claiming their contests were legal last year.
Meanwhile in Nevada, DraftKings and FanDuel are scheduled to present their case for being licensed to operate paid DFS in Nevada before its Gaming Policy Committee on Aug. 30.
Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt in October declared paid DFS to be an unregulated form of wagering, which effectively banned it in the Silver State.
The DFS operators say it’s a game of skill, rather than chance, but voluntarily suspended their services in Nevada. State lawmakers, meanwhile, have introduced bills that would legalize paid DFS in Nevada, but the measures won’t be addressed until the state Legislature convenes in February.
The proposed law would allow anyone 18 and older in Nevada to participate in paid DFS contests. By contrast, the minimum age to legally gamble in Nevada is 21.
DFS operators also would have to pay a $500 application fee and annual license fee of up to $10,000.
While FanDuel and DraftKings make their pitch in Nevada, USFantasy Sports announced it is launching its DFS service on September 2, during the first weekend of the NFL season.
USFantasy Sports says it will offer parimutuel wagers, win/place/show/exacta/trifecta, and daily double wagering, and wagers on late afternoon, Sunday night, and Monday night NFL games.
USFantasy Sports also says 50 casino sportsbooks will offer the USFantasy Sports wagering platform starting September 19th.
