Select a state to read more about each law
In Alabama, the daily fantasy sports industry successfully got legislation introduced in February "on friendly terms to the industry," according to the site Legal Sports Report. The two bills would clarify the sites' legal status in Alabama and introduce regulation for fantasy sports games in the state. In April, however, the states attorney general issued a cease-and-desist letter to FanDuel and DraftKings, calling daily fantasy sports a form of illegal gambling.
The law around daily fantasy sports varies from state to state, but in Arizona, playing fantasy sports for money is considered illegal. Sites like DraftKings and FanDuel have defended the legality of their product across all states, but due to the unsettled nature of the debate, both companies currently block players in Arizona.
Hawaii joined the list of states that consider daily fantasy sports illegal when its attorney general, Douglas Chin, released an opinion in January saying that the contests broke the state's gambling laws.
"Gambling generally occurs under Hawaii law when a person stakes or risks something of value upon a game of chance or upon any future contingent event not under the person's control," said Chin in a statement announcing the decision. "The technology may have changed, but the vice has not."
Less than one week later, a Honolulu prosecutor sent letters to DraftKings and FanDuel ordering them to stop taking payments from Honolulu residents. DraftKings said that it would withdraw from the state, but FanDuel has continued to operate there.
Meanwhile, a fight over daily fantasy sites has broken out in the state legislature. On the same day as the attorney general's announcement, a bill was introduced to amend state law so that fantasy contests "shall not be considered gambling or games of chance." Competing bills in the House and the Senate say that "fantasy competition is a violation" of the gambling laws of Hawaii.
DraftKings and FanDuel agreed to pull out of Idaho in May after Attorney General Lawrence Wasden said in a statement that daily fantasy sports "constitute gambling under Idaho law." Wrote Wasden:
"Idaho defines gambling, in part, as risking money or other thing of value for gain that is contingent in whole or part upon chance or the outcome of an event, including a sporting event ... My concern is that the daily fantasy sports offerings my office reviewed require participants to risk money for a cash prize contingent upon individual athletes’ collective performances in various future sporting events. As I see it, this falls within Idaho’s definition of gambling."
Attorney General Lisa Madigan issued a written opinion in December saying that daily fantasy sports constituted "illegal gambling" under Illinois law.
Sites like DraftKings and FanDuel have argued that daily fantasy sports are games of skill -- rather than games of chance -- and therefore should not be considered a form of gambling. In her opinion, however, Madigan called that distinction moot, noting that the Illinois criminal code "prohibits the playing of both 'games of chance or skill for money.'"
"Absent legislation specifically exempting daily fantasy sports contests from gambling provisions, it is my opinion that daily fantasy sports contests constitute illegal gambling under Illinois law," Madigan wrote.
In a response to the attorney general, FanDuel said in a statement, "Why the Attorney General would tell her 13.5 million constituents they can’t play fantasy sports anymore as they know it -- and make no mistake, her opinion bans all forms of fantasy sports played for money -- is beyond us."
Despite Madigan's ruling, FanDuel and DraftKings continue to operate in Illinois.
The attorney general's opinion was released as lawmakers in the Illinois House and Senate were considering a bill that would exempt daily fantasy sports sites from the state's wider prohibition on gambling.
Iowa is one of several states where playing fantasy sports for money is considered illegal. Sites like DraftKings and FanDuel have defended the legality of their product across all states, but due to the unsettled nature of the debate, both companies currently block players in Iowa.
In 2015, lawmakers in the state Senate passed a bill that would have legalized cash payouts for fantasy games, but the legislation died in the House. State Rep. Jake Highfill, a Republican and the House bill’s chief author, told the Associated Press in January that he's reworking the bill and will try again to pass it.
"People love fantasy sports, and I am hearing about this all the time back home," Highfill said.
Playing daily fantasy sports for money is currently considered illegal in Louisiana. A bill that would have created a special legal carve-out for fantasy games reached the state legislature in 2015, but failed to go anywhere. Sites like DraftKings and FanDuel have defended the legality of their products across all states, but for now at least, the unsettled nature of the debate has led both companies to block players in Louisiana.
Playing daily fantasy sports for money is considered illegal in Montana. Sites like DraftKings and FanDuel have defended the legality of their products across all states, but due to the unsettled nature of the debate, the two companies currently block players in Montana. Fantasy sites are also considered illegal under state law in Arizona, Iowa, Louisiana and Washington.
In Illinois, Hawaii, New York and Texas, attorneys general have called the contests illegal forms of gambling, while in Nevada, state regulators have said they should be treated the same as gambling.
Nevada regulators in October ruled that daily fantasy sports games should be considered a form of gambling, and ordered sites like FanDuel and DraftKings to stop operating there until receiving a state gambling license. One day later, the state's attorney general, Adam Paul Laxalt, released an opinion that likewise deemed daily fantasy sports a form of gambling, adding that in some cases, the games may even constitute illegal lotteries under state law.
The ruling drove both sites from Nevada – at least for now. In a statement, FanDuel said that the Nevada Gaming Control Board's decision "stymies innovation and ignores the fact that fantasy sports is a skill-based entertainment product loved and played by millions of sports fans." DraftKings, in a separate response, called the action a "exclusionary approach against the increasingly popular fantasy sports industry."
New York, with more than 1.2 million daily fantasy sports customers, is the largest market in the nation for the industry, and in recent months, has emerged as a main front in the fight over whether the contests should be legal or not.
In November, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman issued a cease-and-desist letter to DraftKings and FanDuel, saying that the betting that takes place on their sites represents a violation of N.Y.'s online gambling laws. DraftKings said it was "disappointed" with the order, while FanDuel in a statement said, "This is a politician telling hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers they are not allowed to play a game they love and share with friends, family, co-workers and players across the country."
The see-sawing legal battle that followed has offered little in the way of clarity on what's next for daily fantasy sports in N.Y. In December, a state judge granted the attorney general's request for an injunction barring the two sites from the state, but later that day, an appeals court judge said they could keep operating until questions over their legal status were better settled.
In the interim, Schneiderman amended his original lawsuit, requesting in January that DraftKings and FanDuel return to customers the hundreds of millions they have made in N.Y., and pay a penalty for running what he described as a "convoluted scheme" in the state.
The attorney general of Texas issued an opinion in January that said daily fantasy sports constituted illegal gambling under state law.
"Paid daily 'fantasy sports' operators claim they can legally operate as an unregulated house, but none of their arguments square with existing Texas law," the attorney general, Ken Paxton, said in a statement. "Simply put, it is prohibited gambling in Texas if you bet on the performance of a participant in a sporting event and the house takes a cut."
In his opinion, Paxton addressed a key argument of sites such as DraftKings and FanDuel – that daily fantasy sports are games of skill, not chance. But, Paxton said, "It is beyond reasonable dispute that daily fantasy leagues involve an element of chance regarding how a selected player will perform on game day."
On any given day, Paxton noted, a player might become injured, for example, or perform poorly due to weather conditions that are beyond a daily fantasy player's control. In such cases, Paxton wrote, "The participant's skill in selecting a particular player for his team has no impact on the performance of the player or the outcome of the game."
Paxton did not say whether he would take action against the two sites, leaving the future of DraftKings and FanDuel uncertain in one of the largest markets for the industry. An attorney for DraftKings told The New York Times that "we strongly disagree" with the opinion, while counsel for FanDuel said it was "founded on a misinterpretation of the law and misunderstanding of the facts about fantasy sports." Both sites continue to operate in Texas.
Washington is already one of a handful of states in the nation that prohibits playing daily fantasy sports online for money, but a bill in the state legislature seeks to take that ban even further. The measure, introduced by State Rep. Chris Hurst, would make operating a daily fantasy sports site in the state a felony.
"This isn't going after Washington citizens," Hurst told ESPN in an interview. "This is going after people that are preying on Washington citizens."
Meanwhile, two competing measures in the House and Senate are looking to make daily fantasy sports legal in Washington by classifying them as games of skill.
By a vote of 62-1, the California Assembly in January approved a bill that would allow daily fantasy sports sites to operate in the state if they first obtain a license and pay an annual regulatory fee. Sites like DraftKings and FanDuel would also have to undergo background checks, pay taxes on their gross income and report player winnings to the state.
"AB 1437 is a consumer protection bill for the hundreds of thousands of Californians who play daily fantasy sports," said Democrat Adam Gray, the bill's sponsor.
The legislation -- which has the support of owners of the Los Angeles Clippers, Lakers, Kings and Galaxy, as well as the San Francisco 49ers -- heads next to the state Senate. In an email to FRONTLINE, a spokeswoman for Gov. Jerry Brown declined to say whether he supports the measure, noting that his office does not comment on pending legislation. "The governor will carefully review any bill that makes it to his desk," she said.
A bill under review in Connecticut would give the state's Commissioner of Consumer Products new authority to regulate daily fantasy sports. Under the proposal, anyone under 21 would not be allowed to play. Sites would be held to new standards for truthful advertising, and protections would have to be in place for problem gamblers. The bill also includes a specification that "daily fantasy sports contests are not contests of chance."
Lawmakers in Florida have opened work on a bill that that would exempt daily fantasy sports sites from state gambling laws and introduce a set of new regulations for the industry.
Under the plan, employees of a daily fantasy company would not be allowed to bet on the sites. Neither could a site owner. Players would have to be at least 18 years old, and the sites would have to pay the state an initial registration fee of $500,000, plus another $100,000 each year to renew. A portion of that money would go to Florida's compulsive gambling organization.
On Jan. 27, the legislation cleared a key hurdle by making it through the Senate's Regulated Industries Committee -- despite objections from the panel's chairman. Hours later, the House Finance and Tax Committee passed a parallel plan.
But fantasy sites have also run into trouble in Florida. In October, The Wall Street Journal reported that the main trade association for the industry, The Fantasy Sports Trade Association, received a subpoena from a prosecutor based in the U.S. attorney’s office in Tampa. "The government may be investigating potential antitrust violations or fraud among the large fantasy sports sites," the Journal reported, citing an unnamed source familiar with the matter.
A bill introduced in the state Senate by Republican Renee Unterman would regulate daily fantasy sports, but stops short of calling the games gambling. As The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported:
"The bill would set standards for operations and pay-outs. It would ban anyone under 18 years of age from playing. And it would mandate that companies register in Georgia if they have players here, setting an initial $50,000 fee — and $10,000 annually — that would be paid toward the state’ signature education programs including the Hope Scholarship for college students."
"This is a game of skill, that you are actually following and researching the players and teams, versus just going in and plopping down $3 for a lottery ticket and the computer generates the numbers," Unterman told the paper.
Yet the outlook in Georgia remains unclear. In February, two attorneys in the office of Attorney General Sam Olens issued "informal advice" determining that "daily fantasy sports games are not authorized under Georgia law."
The Michigan Gaming Control Board said in September 2015 that daily fantasy sports were not legal in the state, according to a report in the industry magazine Gambling Compliance, but a bill by Democratic State Senator Curtis Hertel, Jr. would seek to legalize daily fantasy sports by classifying them as "a game of skill." The bill was introduced in September and is currently under review by the chamber's Judiciary Committee.
Lawmakers in Minnesota have introduced two bills to deal with the daily fantasy sports question. One of the two measures helps define the contests, saying "a fantasy game is a bona fide contest for the determination of skill." The second bill notes that "a fantasy sports contest is not a bet or a lottery." Sites would have to be registered with the state, according to the bill, and no one under the age of 18 could play. Neither could most employees of fantasy sites.
Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster has yet to issue an opinion on the legality of daily fantasy sports. "I know there are a large number of people in Missouri who play daily fantasy sports," Koster told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in a December interview. "It would be unfortunate if it were unable to continue."
In the meantime, State Rep. Scott Fitzpatrick, a Republican, has introduced legislation that would make daily fantasy sports betting legal in Missouri. According to the bill, "the offering and operating of a fantasy contest" would not constitute "gambling activity."
Nebraska has an estimated 300,000 fantasy sports players, and if a new bill passes, they'll be able to keep playing.
According to text of the legislation, which was introduced in January by Republican State Sen. Tyson Larson, "Conducting or participating in a fantasy contest does not constitute advancing gambling activity." Larson's bill characterizes daily fantasy sports as games of skill, as industry leaders DraftKings and FanDuel have long argued.
"With fantasy sports, there never is that element of chance, because from the very beginning, you're picking every one of your players and you're picking them based on the knowledge and research you've done," Larson told the Norfolk Daily News.
New Jersey, which in 1978 became the second state in the nation to offer casino gambling, has long been seen as a bellwether for gambling laws across the country. Republican Gov. Chris Christie has called the idea of regulating fantasy football "a stupid idea," but lawmakers have begun discussing options anyway.
One bill in the works would prevent employees of a daily fantasy sports site from participating in the contests for money. A separate measure by Democrat Jim Whelan would allow the sites to continue operating in the state by branding the competitions as games of skill, not games of chance. But the bill would also place the industry under the authority of the Division of Gaming and Enforcement, which as The Record has noted, would be "a potential issue for DraftKings, FanDuel and other daily fantasy sites that have emphatically sought to distance themselves from any suggestion that their competitions are gambling."
An informal hearing was held on the issue in January, but for now, it appears lawmakers may hold off on any major action until a legal battle over whether sports betting should be allowed in the state is resolved. In 2014, lawmakers passed a bill that would allow sports betting in New Jersey, but implementation has been bogged down by legal challenges.
The Fantasy Contest Act, introduced in February, would put in place new guidelines for daily fantasy sports sites in New Mexico. Employees of the sites, as well as their families, could not participate in fantasy contests, and sharing of insider information would be barred. The bill also calls for civil penalties as high as $1,000 per offense.
"We're just making sure that people who are engaging in fantasy sports are protected," the bill's sponsor, Republican House Majority Leader Nate Gentry told The Albuquerque Journal. "The industry was very proactive -- the fantasy sports industry ... They wanted to provide for consumer protection -- to make sure make sure that those people who play fantasy sports are protected."
The Oklahoma Fantasy Contests Act would keep daily fantasy sports sites legal in the Sooner State by defining the contests as games of skill. An estimated 500,000 people in Oklahoma regularly enter daily fantasy sports contests, and according to the bill's sponsor, Republican Justin Wood, "The ones who win work at it … They study it; they have developed formulas and algorithms."
While the attorney general of Pennsylvania works on a review of whether daily fantasy sports run afoul of state gambling laws, legislation under consideration in the general assembly would require DFS sites to be sponsored by one of the state's 12 casinos. The measure would allow the state to tax and regulate the fast-growing industry.
"It will still be legal as long as its done through our casinos," the bill's sponsor, Republican George Dunbar, told the Associated Press. "It will be banned elsewhere."
In November, Dunbar told the York Daily Record that daily fantasy sports was "pretty much gambling."
In South Dakota, Attorney General Marty Jackley has indicated that he will put off a final decision on whether daily fantasy sports are illegal until receiving further guidance from the state's gaming commission. But in a Nov. 13 statement, Jackley said, "fantasy sports that so many law-abiding South Dakotans enjoy that do not involve exchanging money or items of value are not a violation of state law."
In Vermont, a bill introduced in January would classify daily fantasy sports as a game of skill, rather than a game of chance – which is what many industry critics call it. The bill also establishes a set of consumer protections, including limiting the game to players who are 18 or older; preventing site employees from playing or sharing insider information; allowing players to request self-imposed bans from the sites; and requiring sites to go through independent audits once a year. Violations would come with a penalty of no more than $1,000 for each violation.
The bill is at odds with remarks by the state's assistant attorney general, John Treadwell, who in January said the games were illegal. "Daily fantasy sports violate Vermont's gambling laws," Treadwell said. "Vermont has very strict long-standing limitations on gambling."
The West Virginia Senate in February passed a bill by a vote of 18 to 16 deeming daily fantasy sports sites legal in the state. As the Associated Press reported:
"It says state law doesn't prohibit offering or participating in fantasy games, or impose fines or criminal penalties. The bill says games must tell participants about prizes before they start playing. It says skill and knowledge are necessary, and games must be based on accumulated statistics of individuals, including athletes. It assures games aren't based on the spread or score of one team, or the individual performance of one player in one event."
A bill introduced in the Wisconsin legislature in January would solidify daily fantasy sports' legal status in the state, and introduce several measures to regulate the industry. Sites like DraftKings and FanDuel would have pay the state a $150,000 registration fee, and an annual renewal fee of $30,000. Employees of fantasy sites, and their relatives, would not be allowed to play, and users would have to be at least 18 years old. The bill also gives authorities new powers to issue fines and deny or suspend registration for fantasy sites in the state.
The bill's sponsor, Republican Rep. Tyler Vorpagel, told The Cap Times of Madison that the goal of the bill was to provide some certainty in the state to fantasy sites, while also introducing protections for consumers.
But the measure drew fire from Wisconsin Family Action, an influential conservative political group in the state.
"Simply declaring that daily fantasy sports is not gambling does not make that truth or reality," the group's president, Julaine Appling, told The Cap Times. "I can declare that a dog is a cat, but that doesn’t change the truth or reality, even if I dress a dog up like a cat."
With no pending legislation or ruling by a state regulator, daily fantasy sports sites are currently considered legal in Alaska.
With no pending legislation or ruling by a state regulator, daily fantasy sports sites are currently considered legal in Arkansas.
With no pending legislation or ruling by a state regulator, daily fantasy sports sites are currently considered legal in Colorado.
With no pending legislation or ruling by a state regulator, daily fantasy sports sites are currently considered legal in Delaware.
On March 24, 2016, Indiana became the second state in the nation to adopt a law formally regulating daily fantasy sports. The law, which was signed by Republican Gov. Mike Pence, designates daily fantasy sports as a game of skill, and places oversight of the industry in the hands of the state's gaming commission. Operators have to pay a $50,000 licensing fee, with a $5,000 renewal fee. Players have to be at least 18 years old.
The law takes effect on July 1, 2016. It mirrors legislation signed into law by Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, on March 7, 2016.
In May 2015, Republican Gov. Sam Brownback signed legislation calling daily fantasy sports sites legal in Kansas. The law came about after the state's gambling regulator, nine months earlier, issued a ruling declaring fantasy sites illegal lotteries under Kansas law. The bill signed by Brownback passed the state legislature with overwhelming support. It cleared the House by a vote of 98-21, and breezed through the senate by a vote of 37-1.
With no pending legislation or ruling by a state regulator, daily fantasy sports sites are currently considered legal in Kentucky.
With no pending legislation or ruling by a state regulator, daily fantasy sports sites are currently considered legal in Maine.
Maryland was one of the first states in the nation to take on the issue of fantasy sports sites, passing a law in 2012 largely exempting fantasy competitions from other gambling prohibitions. According to that law, fantasy games reflect "the relative skill of the participants."
Today, there are an estimated 100,000 players in Maryland, but as fantasy games have evolved, so to have views on their legality in the state.
That was the conclusion of a review released in January by Kathryn Rowe, the state's assistant attorney general, and Adam Snyder, chief counsel for opinions and advice in the attorney general's office. Fantasy sports games had changed so much since that law was passed, the attorneys said, that it was unclear if text in the 2012 legislation permitting season-long fantasy sports play applied to the daily sites that have emerged since then.
"We recommend that the Legislature squarely take up the issue this session and clarify whether daily fantasy sports are authorized in Maryland," read the opinion, which was issued at the request of state Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, Jr.
The legislature has yet to take action on the opinion, but the industry's two main sites, DraftKings and FanDuel, are preparing to make their case anyway. As The Baltimore Sun reported in January:
"In advance of the opening of the General Assembly session this week, FanDuel and DraftKings retained Maryland lawyer Frank Boston III and officials from the Annapolis firm Perry, White, Ross & Jacobson as lobbyists. FanDuel retained Baltimore attorney Stephen Martino, former director of the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency, to work on regulatory and legal issues."
In Massachusetts, Attorney General Maura Healey proposed regulations in late 2015 that would allow the daily fantasy sports industry to operate in the Bay State. The final set of regulations were put in place on March 25, 2016.
Under the regulations, sites like FanDuel and Boston-based DraftKings are only be open to players 21 and older. They cannot accept wagers for college or high school games; they'd have to clearly identify professional players by putting a symbol next to their names; player funds have to be isolated from company operating funds; and the companies have to change their advertising practices.
Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant signed legislation in May 2016 allowing daily fantasy sports in the state under a new set of regulations. The governor's action effectively reversed a January 2016 opinion by Attorney General Jim Hood calling daily fantasy sports illegal under Mississippi law. Addressing the issue of whether daily fantasy sports are games of skill, as the industry's supporters argue, or games of chance, which its critics say it is, Hood wrote, "It is beyond reasonable dispute that daily fantasy leagues involve an element of chance regarding how a selected player will perform on game day."
With no pending legislation or ruling by a state regulator, daily fantasy sports sites are currently considered legal in New Hampshire.
With no pending legislation or ruling by a state regulator, daily fantasy sports sites are currently considered legal in North Carolina.
With no pending legislation or ruling by a state regulator, daily fantasy sports sites are currently considered legal in North Dakota.
With no pending legislation or ruling by a state regulator, daily fantasy sports sites are currently considered legal in Ohio.
With no pending legislation or ruling by a state regulator, daily fantasy sports sites are currently considered legal in Oregon.
Two days after New York's attorney general issued a cease-and-desist order to DraftKings and FanDuel in November, the office of Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Kilmartin said it would begin a review of the industry's legal status in the state.
In February, Kilmartin announced his decision, saying that "After a very thorough review of how these sites operate and an analysis of our statutes and relevant case law, I am confident that daily fantasy sports sites are currently legal in Rhode Island."
But even though daily fantasy sports are legal, "I believe there should be strict regulations imposed on the operation of these sites to address the issues we have experienced with gambling in Rhode Island, including infiltration of the criminal element, youth participation, and addiction issues," said Kilmartin.
A bill introduced in the state legislature in January would allow the state's Division of Racing and Athletics to begin offering fantasy sports as a game of skill.
With no pending legislation or ruling by a state regulator, daily fantasy sports sites are currently considered legal in South Carolina.
Republican Governor Bill Haslam signed legislation in April making Tennessee the third state in the country, behind Virginia and Indiana, to formally regulate the daily fantasy sports industry. The law forces daily fantasy sports operators to license with the state, and puts Tennessee's attorney general in charge of oversight. The legislation passed the state Senate by a 27 to 2, while the House approved the measure by a vote of 67 to 17.
With no pending legislation or ruling by a state regulator, daily fantasy sports sites are currently considered legal in Utah.
Virginia in March became the first state in the nation to adopt a law to regulate daily fantasy sports, a measure that effectively exempts the industry from state gambling laws.
The regulations signed into law by Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, require popular websites like DraftKings and FanDuel to pay a $50,000 fee to register with the state. No one under the age of 18 could play daily fantasy sports, and neither could industry employees or their immediate relatives. Player funds will also need to be kept separate from company funds under the law, which gives the state’s Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services new powers to investigate violations.
The measure breezed through the state legislature, passing by votes of 80 to 20 in the House and 31 to 9 in the Senate.
With no pending legislation or ruling by a state regulator, daily fantasy sports sites are currently considered legal in Wyoming.