Recently news broke out that the FBI was investigation the legality of online daily fantasy sports sites, which includes DraftKings and FanDuel. When news broke out, the gaming regulators in Nevada barred FanDuel and DraftKings from operating in the state.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board released a notice on Thursday, and it revealed that the regulator has been taking a look at the legality of daily fantasy sports sites. It said it has been doing this for months now and its conclusion was that the pay-to-play tournaments that these sites offer is considered gambling under Nevada law. This means sites such as FanDuel and DraftKings need to have a license from the Nevada Gaming Commission in order to legally operate in the state.
Both FanDuel and DraftKings have ceased operations in Nevada as of Thursday evening. A.G. Burnett, the chief of the state’s Gaming Control Board, said that if businesses are licensed in Nevada, then they are good to go.
Sabrina Macias, a spokeswoman for DraftKings, said that DraftKings understands that the gaming industry is important to the state of Nevada, and that was why the regulators are taking such an approach against DraftKings and other sites like it. DraftKings didn’t mention exactly how many customers it had in Nevada, but it did say it had thousands of customers in the state.
FanDuel also released a statement, and it was similar to what DraftKings’ statement said.
Congress could very well hold a hearing on fantasy sports sites. Just last month, FanDuel hired a law firm to act as its Washington lobbyist.
