Daily fantasy sports are completely legal in most of the United States right now, which means that DraftKings is legal. Currently, there are fives states where fantasy sports are not fully allowed. These include Arizona, Iowa, Montana, Louisiana, and Washington. These states either currently interpret federal law differently than the majority of states do, or they have stricter state laws in place. This still leaves 90 percent of the United States, where this quickly growing game is allowed without question.
Daily fantasy sports are different from season long leagues. In a season long league, there is no player sharing. However, because one day leagues have so many managers in a single league, and because managers usually do not know each other and cannot coordinate their schedules. Instead, these leagues use a salary cap structure and each manager drafts a team that is independent and unaffected by any others in his or her league. The players on their roster accumulate points, and the manager with the highest point total at the end of the night wins. It’s still a fantasy sports league, but it is a different structure than a season long league would have where managers and their rosters have much more stability.
The complication is mostly in how individual states interpret the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. This law, passed by President George W. Bush, outlaws the transfer of money to gambling sites that promote games of chance, but exempts games where skill is involved. Fantasy sports, according to most interpretations, are considered to be a game of skill. This goes for all fantasy sports (both daily and season long) where there are more than a certain number of athletes to choose from. You can play fantasy football, baseball, basketball, or hockey. There are also other sports to choose from on many sites, including fantasy MMA, golf, and NASCAR. Not all of these sports are offered at many of the other daily fantasy sites, but DraftKings does include each of these sports when they are in season. And as long as there are either more than one game going on at a time, or there are multiple statistical occurrences within the same event (so as to include NASCAR and golf), daily fantasy sports are completely fine according to the UIGEA. This law was passed in 2006, definitions were solidified in 2007, and daily fantasy sports arose shortly after. They have been increasing in popularity rapidly since then. Today, they are rivaling season long leagues in the amount of play seen.
Fantasy sports are not gambling and they are not rigged. They are a game where chance is involved, but much like other activities where chance is a factor like chess, horse racing, the stock market, and others, fantasy sports are beatable if you approach them the right way because skill eventually wins out over luck. There will be variance, but consistency, talent, and time will triumph over a large enough sample size. It’s not something that can be mastered overnight, but there are steps that you can take to improve your skills and better your chances of turning a profit for yourself. Overall, the sum of contests in this game is a reflection of the skill of those that take part in each contest. If you are skilled here, you might find yourself losing once in a while, but overall, you will eventually create a winning record for yourself.
And because they are a game of skill, that means that individuals with superior knowledge of how to play find themselves at a big advantage when it comes to making money. This is the level that you want to be at, and it’s our goal to help you get there. It is responsible of you to ensure that what you are doing is legal, and if it is, our mission is to help you keep improving your game so that you can make as much money as possible. DraftKings is one of the top daily fantasy sites out there right now, and playing here is a good way to sharpen your skills, have fun, and make money all at the same time.
One additional stipulation necessary for daily fantasy sports to remain legal is that all payouts must be made known before the contest begins. DraftKings accomplishes this in every single tournament and league that they offer, even if some of them are only finalized a few minutes before the contest closes. This is above and beyond the minimum requirement, and it ensures that DraftKings will officially remain a legal source of entertainment and profits for the majority of U.S. residents.
