Industry Updates

Hawaii Attorney General Doug Chin and Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood are among the latest to designate daily fantasy sports as illegal gambling, joining five other states’ attorneys general Nevada, New York, Illinois, Texas, and Vermont that have made the same determination.

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Kilmartin handed the daily fantasy sports industry a much-needed win on Thursday. In a letter addressed to Governor Gina Raimondo, Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed and Speaker Nicholas Mattiello, Kilmartin declared that fantasy sports contests are legal under Rhode Island law.

Earlier today, Honolulu prosecuting attorney Keith M. Kaneshiro sent cease and desist letters to the CEOs of FanDuel and DraftKings.

Fantasy site DailyMVP.com sent out an e-mail to customers late last night announcing that the company will be moving away from paid contests entirely. From here on out, they’ll be hosting free contests only. Information is hard to come by as the e-mail offered few details other than the announcement and asking customers to withdraw…

The daily fantasy sports industry received some potentially damaging, and judging by DraftKings response, unexpected news on Friday afternoon. Vantiv, an integral cog in the industry’s payment processing structure, announced they would no longer process payments for DFS companies in the United States.

Just two days ago, Hawaii’s attorney general issued an opinion stating that daily fantasy sports contests in Hawaii run afoul of state gambling laws. It was not a big surprise to see Hawaii take this position. After all, the state has some of the strictest anti-gambling laws in the entire United States.

The daily fantasy sports industry is currently facing a myriad of legislative battles in statehouses across the country. There are the handful of frontline states where along with legislative efforts the states’ Attorneys General have weighed in on the subject: New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, Florida, and most recently Texas, and while these states get the…

Things are changing at DraftKings DFS. The fantasy site sent out an e-mail to customers today announcing a new prohibition against automated lineup management tools. Meanwhile, ESPN has reported on two other changes that include limiting how many times a single player may enter into some types of contests and plans to identify experienced players.

Just a quick update today for daily fantasy sports in Minnesota. We’re hearing the very early rumblings of a possibility for state representatives to propose legislation seeking to formally legalize and regulate daily fantasy sports contests.