Delaware Gov signs fantasy sports legislation
The First State has become the 14th in the United States to legalise daily fantasy sports, as its governor signed HB 249.
US.- John Carney, governor of Delaware, has signed late on Wednesday the bill that authorises daily fantasy sports (DFS) operations in the state. HB 249 amends the local lottery law that said that DFS games were games of chance.
The amendment clarifies that DFS requires a skill to come up with different fantasy lineups in a short amount of time, therefore they’re not games of chance. Moreover, it establishes that the outcome of fantasy sports doesn’t depend on a single sport event or athlete, as CalvinAyre reported. The bill signed by Carney forces operators that want to offer their services in the state to pay an annual fee of US$50k, as well as 15 percent of gross revenue that come from local players.
The high taxes pretty much force an oligopoly in the state, probably managed by the biggest DFS operators in the United States: FanDuel and DraftKings. The bill is set to come into force in one month, approximately around the time the NFL kicks off the new season.
General counsel for DraftKings, Tim Parilla, said that the company is looking forward to returning to Delaware, the fourteenth state to pass a fantasy sports legislation, as Legal Sports Report informed. “We are extremely grateful to Governor Carney and the members of the legislature for their support, especially Representative Charles Potter and Senator David Sokola, who provided tireless leadership in bringing fantasy sports back to the First State. Today’s bill signing continues the progress DraftKings and our industry partners are making towards our ultimate goal of passing common sense fantasy sports legislation in all 50 states,” said Parilla.
The House had passed by 28-6 the bill on June 30, almost a year after the Delaware Department of Justice (DOJ) had banned the gambling modality because it was considered changeable games of chance.
