Letter to the Editor: Is Daily Fantasy Sports Illegal under Federal Law and Most State Laws?

By:  Prof. John Kindt*

Virtually a nonentity in 2012, by 2015 Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) was the largest advertiser in the United States.

But by the end of 2015, DFS was the subject of investigations by the U.S. Attorney Offices in New York, Boston, and Tampa. Other criminal justice authorities including two dozen state attorney generals were reviewing various DFS operations.

N.Y. Attorney General Eric Schneiderman declared DFS illegal in October 2015. He was soon joined by the attorney generals of 11 other states including Illinois.

DFS places real-time gambling at every school desk, work desk, family TV, video game, and cell phone. People of all ages will be able to “click their phones, lose their homes.” Virtually all academic experts concur that DFS is designed to create ubiquitous real-time gambling without any effective consumer protection.

Specifically designed to seduce a youth market, the DFS marketing philosophy also reportedly synchronizes well with pornography marketing techniques. The title of a February news report by Bloomberg emphasizes this marketing: “Porn Giant Vivid Wants to Rescue Daily Fantasy Sports.”

The U.S. National Gambling Impact Study Commission Report concluded that DFS-type gambling was “impossible to regulate” and had to be prohibited. These conclusions have been confirmed by experts at Congressional hearings and in academic publications, including the multi-volume United States International Gaming® Report, produced at the University of Illinois and in concert with other research universities.

In 2015 Congressional hearings began investigating the proliferation and abuses involving DFS. All states would be well-advised to reject the claims and endeavors of DFS lobbyists to leverage state governments into confrontations with the U.S. Department of Justice and the majority of state attorney generals.  

*Prof. John Kindt testified at the 2006 Congressional hearings enacting UIGEA, as well as the 2015 Congressional hearings where he re-affirmed that DFS was illegal.

 Prof. John W. Kindt

 MBA, J.D., LL.M., SJD

 Law & Economics

 350 Wohlers Hall

 University of Illinois

 Champaign, IL 61820

 217-433-0075

 johnwkindt@gmail.com