Mississippi Senate passed the DFS bill

The principal author of the legal project, Senate Judiciary A Chairman Sean Tindell, deems Daily Fantasy Sports as portfolio of skill games.

US.- When things were apparently very grey for daily fantasy sports -DFS- in Mississippi state, last Tuesday the online gambling sector received a good news. According to the official website of the government, the Senate Bill 2541 was passed by Committee Substitute and now it will have to wait until the effective date, July 1, for the confirmation of the approval by the House and Senate.

At the beginning of 2016, the Mississippi’s Attorney General Jim Hood claimed daily fantasy sports were illegal. A few weeks later, major DFS providers, FanDuel and DraftKings, decided to voluntary suspend play in the state as declaring that their businesses were operated lawfully there, but “the opinion has now created uncertainty about the law in Mississippi”. Nevertheless, the forward step to legal DFS could make a twist in the story, if the majority of the legislators decide to turn them into legal skill games.

“The unanimous passage of this bill out of committee is exciting news and confirms what experts, fans and many policymakers have come to understand: that fantasy sports are games of skill. We are greateful to Senator Tindell for his tireless support and are looking forward to further engagement with Mississippi legislators to ensure that our loyal fans in the state can continue to enjoy the games they love,” published DraftKing’s spokesman, Griffin Finan.

The bill states that companies must register with a basic inversion of US$100,000 surety bond in Mississippi. Operators can choose between paying it along with annual registration fee of US$30,000 or 5 percent of the total amount of entry fees minus the amount of cash paid to customers.