New York Governor Signs Daily Fantasy Sports BillState Becomes Eighth In Nation To Pass DFS Law |
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New York has become the eighth state in America to pass a daily fantasy sports bill.
After months of consideration and legislative work, the bill in New York to regulate DFS sites made it to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s desk on Tuesday. Just two days later, he signed it into law. The legislation reclassified DFS as a game of skill.
The governor had a little over a week to veto or sign it. If he didn’t take any action, it would have automatically became law. The bill passed the legislature in June.
“Daily fantasy sports have proven to be popular in New York, but until now have operated with no supervision and no protections for players,” Gov. Cuomo said in a statement. "This legislation strikes the right balance that allows this activity to continue with oversight from state regulators, new consumer protections, and more funding for education.”
Some of the consumer protections include offering introductory procedures for new players, identifying highly experienced players, prohibiting the participation of minors and protecting players’ funds upon deposit.
DraftKings and FanDuel, the largest players in the DFS space, agreed to a settlement with New York in March. The settlement called for them to stop doing business in New York until a law was passed. New York represented nearly 13 percent of the active users for the companies.
State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who led the case against DraftKings and FanDuel, said in a statement: “As I’ve said from the start of my office’s investigation into daily fantasy sports, my job is to enforce the law and protect New Yorkers from illegal or unscrupulous conduct. Today, the governor has signed a bill that amends the law in order to legalize daily fantasy sports contests, with consumer protections for New York players. I will enforce and defend the new law."
He added that the state’s "advertising and consumer fraud claims for past misconduct by DraftKings and FanDuel will continue to move forward.”
DFS companies must apply for permits from the state, a process that could take several weeks.
Other states that have approved DFS legislation are Virginia, Colorado, Missouri, Indiana, Massachusetts, Tennessee and Mississippi.
While New York lawmakers were able to finalize the DFS bill this year, they unfortunately weren’t able to put the finishing touches on a plan for regulating real-money online poker. Those efforts stalled in June when the legislative session ended. The online poker legislation passed out of the Senate earlier in June by a 53-5 vote, so there was real progress made on the proposal in 2016. New York is home to nearly 20 million people and has a year-one online poker market estimated at $120 million. A 15-percent tax rate was proposed.
According to State Sen. John Bonacic, New York’s top online poker backer, on an annual basis online poker could be roughly 10 times as lucrative for New York as DFS. Gov. Cuomo said that DFS will yield $4 million in revenue for New York. Bonacic had said that online poker would likely become legal in the Empire State before DFS. With the amount of money on the line, and the fact that the state has now legalized a different form of online betting, poker stands a good chance in 2017.
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