Daily Fantasy Sport (DFS) is finding itself in an increasingly vulnerable position. We have reached a stage where the explosion of this pursuit has led to the authorities becoming involved. As time goes on, lawmakers are taking firm action. The crackdown on DFS has begun, and it’s happening for some pretty sleazy reasons.
Nevada Takes First Blood
Nevada is the state that decided to initiate the first complete ban on DFS. This marks a major move and could lead to other states that were previously on the fence to take action. All eyes have drifted towards New York, which is well known for banning things people enjoy. Other states that are considering a ban are Pennsylvania, Mississippi, and New Jersey.
This seems like a diverse make-up of states to be considering a ban on DFS, but when we look into the issue we can see that it all boils down to the same reasons.
Protecting the Land-Based Industry
Nevada banned DFS under the idea that they did not have gambling licenses. They claimed they wanted to protect consumers from unregulated gambling. Of course, anyone can see this is a rather flimsy excuse because the state didn’t ban the companies involved they banned DFS as a whole.
Pennsylvania, Mississippi, and New Jersey are all states that bring in billions of dollars from gambling every year. It doesn’t take a genius to put two-and-two together. Lawmakers want to protect their land-based industries. It’s why they destroyed the online poker and sports betting industries. More and more people are shunning casinos in favor of betting at home, which state funds naturally get nothing from.
All about Behaviors
If we look at the ban, and various proposed bans, on DFS, we can see that authorities have gone a step further and banned the free version of DFS. Therefore, even if no money passes from gamblers, DFS is still treated as if it was about betting thousands of dollars in one sitting.
We can see that much of the motivation surrounding DFS is to eliminate it. It’s about behavior and about helping traditional types of gambling creep into people’s habits again. It’s clear that this has nothing to do with protecting people from gambling. All states who’re passionately trying to destroy DFS are also the biggest advocates of traditional gambling in the country.
What Happens Next?
Many fear that what has happened in Nevada will lead to the rest of the states falling like dominos. There are grassroots campaigns established in a number of threatened states to combat what has happened in Nevada. There is nothing worse than the feeling that you may be breaking the law by placing bets through these sites. But like in Nevada the operators of these DFS stopped taking bets until this gets all sorted out.
So far, the only reasoning is to stop companies without gambling licenses from operating the game. If this is addressed, other states will find it difficult to provide any reason to support a ban on DFS. Of course, many of these states could simply refuse to give out licenses.
There are no guarantees that DFS will disappear anytime soon. Nevada has always had a strong stance on non-traditional gambling, along with New York. Other states will take some convincing before they even think about taking similar action. For now, the future of DFS is assured, so players shouldn’t feel the need to bail anytime soon.
