Kansas Senate Passes Fantasy Sports BillLawmakers Don't Want Residents To Be Charged For Playing |
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State senators in Kansas on Monday approved a bill that would classify fantasy sports as legal games of skill in the state. The bill passed the full Senate by a huge 37-1 margin.
The bill still needs to pass the House and then be signed by the governor before becoming law.
According to a report on KansasCity.com, the state’s gambling regulator said in August that he sees private fantasy sports leagues as illegal lotteries, since the state’s Constitution says Kansas itself can only run gambling if it wants to. However, the state’s attorney general said last month that fantasy sports aren’t illegal because they are skill and do not constitute gambling.
The bill being pushed by the legislature apparently would make the law clear.
Rep. Brett Hildabrand, a Republican, said he introduced the bill to make sure residents aren’t going to be hit with gambling violations for playing fantasy sports online, according to the report.
According to Legal Sports Report, fantasy sports have issues with existing law in Iowa, Montana, Arizona, Louisiana, Texas and the state of Washington as well.
Changes to the law are also being considered in Louisiana and Iowa.
Fantasy sports and poker have common ground these days, and not just because they are both games of skill and have had to deal with antiquated laws before. Amaya Gaming Group, which owns PokerStars, is looking to get into the daily fantasy sports space.
Recently, Disney invested $250 million into DraftKings. It’s not surprising that a proposed federal ban on online gaming, including poker, would give a carve-out to fantasy sports.
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