An Ohio senator seeks to regulate daily fantasy sports by preventing them from collecting any profits from their activity. Senator Bill Coley claims that anything else would violate the state constitution.
A bill by Ohio state Senator Bill Coley would regulate daily fantasy sports sites such as FanDuel and Draft Kings, which the senator claims are breaking state law by failing to award 100 percent of the money they collect in prizes.
Any betting pools that don’t pay out all of their money collected should be subject to state regulation, said Coley. His bill would place such sites under the supervision of the Ohio Casino Control Commission.
Coley’s bill SB 356 would also regulate eSports and Queen of Heart games. Coley said his bill would protect consumers and ensure that such games are conducted fairly.
During a press conference Senator Coley said, “Promotions like these are very successful. But when you’re taking a rake off the top, you’re breaking the law and you need to stop doing that in the state of Ohio.”
Coley added, “They want to deny reality and they don’t want to change their model because it’s very profitable. We’ve crafted legislation so all those in Ohio who are interested in fantasy sports continue in these activities”
A spokesman for FanDuel and DraftKings, Marc La Vorgna, said the games are legal in Ohio. They are working through lobbyists to try to “update” the state’s laws to take new technology into consideration.
“Senator Coley is completely on an island—isolated from Ohioans who love fantasy sports and isolated from his caucus where he has no support for his attempt to ban fantasy sports,” he said. “Just this year, eight states have already passed laws affirming millions of fantasy sports fans can continue to play. These policies have been vetted, proven and established and we hope Ohio is the next state on the list.”
Coley’s bill was inspired by a memo sent out recently by Attorney General Mike DeWine which said that the law is murky about when DFS games are games of skill or constitute gambling. The DFS companies maintain that they are games of skill. DeWine wrote: “there are legitimate concerns over how DFS websites operate.” He added, “It is unclear whether DFS websites, as currently operating, violate R.C. Chapter 2915. Due to this lack of clarity, and the variety of laws DFS implicates, the General Assembly may ant to address this issue.”
Last year the legislature’s Joint Committee on Wagering and Gaming decided that Game of Hearts ought to be regulated by the Ohio Casino Control Commission.
So far in 2016 eight states have passed laws that legalized DFS.
In a separate but related issue, Spectrum Gaming Group, a New Jersey research firm hired by Ohio Governor John Kasich, has recommended adding electronic table poker, online gaming, and a greater variety of instant tickets to the Buckeye State’s 42-year old lottery. The $601,000 study also recommended that the lottery became a “quasi-public” corporation to be more efficient and avoid unnecessary government regulation.
While not advocating that the lottery be privatized, Spectrum recommended that it be removed from being overseen by the governor’s office and be organized like an economic development agency.
The current structure of the entity has caused it to miss opportunities to become more profitable and develop more revenue streams.
The state’s voters authorized the lottery in 1973. It now offers several instant games, including Keno, video slot machines at the state’s seven racetracks and electronic games at veterans and fraternal organizations.
Senator Coley maintains that these recommendations would be unconstitutional. He commented, “We appreciate any input we got, but I don’t know that we would be in any real big hurry to change the organization. We may tweak it.”
