The legality of DraftKings Inc., a Boston-based fantasy sports website, will be reviewed by the attorney general of its home state. Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, a well-known supporter of strict casino regulations, was asked about the legality of DraftKings during an interview with State House News Service. Healey told the News Service, “The point is this: This is a new industry. It’s something that we’re reviewing, and we’ll learn more about it.”
While fantasy sports have been around for decades, daily fantasy websites, such as DraftKings, have only increased in popularity over the past few years. For those unfamiliar, fantasy sports allow players to “draft” real athletes and compete against other players, with the real athletes’ statistical numbers used to calculate the winner. Typical fantasy sports produce a winner at the end of a season, but daily fantasy websites allow users to draft new fantasy teams daily or weekly, depending on the sport. This speeds up the pace of the game, computing winners and awarding payouts daily and weekly.
The popularity of daily fantasy sports has attracted the attention of law makers. Many believe fantasy sport websites are indistinguishable from other types of online gambling illegal under federal law. DraftKings and others maintain the position that fantasy sports are exempt because they “reflect the relative knowledge and skill of the participant.”