Laws declaring Daily Fantasy Sports a game of skill progressed in both Florida and New Jersey on Monday thanks to Dana Young and former Casino Control Commission Chairman Steven Perskie.
Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) bed partners DraftKings, and FanDuel has put their money to good use by hiring the highly respectable, Steven Perskie, to argue the point that DFS is not ‘gambling’ in front of the Assembly Tourism, Gaming and the Arts Committee on Monday.
The former Chairman of the Casino Control Commission did well. The Committee passed a bill legalising and regulating DFS in the state of New Jersey with seven thumbs going up and none going down.
Perskie argued that selecting a winning DFS team again and again proved that the game was one of skill and therefore should not be “prohibited by the provision against gambling in the New Jersey Constitution, and are therefore within the authority of the New Jersey Legislature to authorise and regulate.”
The bill also increased the proposed tax levy on DFS gross revenues from 9.25% to 10.5% and stipulated that the Department of Law and Public Safety would take on the role of overseeing God and not the Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE).
The bill A3532, sponsored by Vincent Mazzeo, Ralph Caputo, John Burzichelli, and Thomas Giblin, first appeared on the long hard slog to regulation back in April 2016.
The fact that ten states have already agreed that DFS is not a gambling game and have begun arrangements to regulate and license the activity also helped the cause.
Caputo believes the regulation will swell tax coffers by $5.8m annually. A consultant, aptly named, Chris Grimm, hired by the two DFS giants felt it was closer to $1.5m.
The committee also said a HELL YEAH when it came to their support of a resolution to tell Donald Trump and his brand spanking new cabinet to keep their noses out of their online casino business.
Dana Young Files DFS Bill
With the ink still wet on the decision by the Floridian Regulated Industries Committee to send gambling bill SB 8 to the Appropriations Committee, Dana Young isn’t taking any chances.
On Monday, Senator Young submitted a separate DFS bill (SB 592 Fantasy Contest Amusement Act), using the same plot as the other 10-states who all say that DFS is a game of skill and therefore should not fall under the strong arm of online gambling laws.
Young told floridapolitics.com that more than 3 million Floridians already play DFS in the state and that her new bill would give them a safer and more secure footing.
The new law demands a $500,000 ‘initial’ application fee, and $100,000 annual renewal. It’s the second DFS bill filed in Florida after Senator Jason Brodeur created the HB 149: Fantasy Contests & Fantasy Contest Operators bill.
