When it comes to fantasy sports, lawmakers are divided. While some call it gambling, others aren’t so sure it qualifies. And while some say the Department of Business and Professional Regulation should oversee it, others would put it under the purview of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services—which is responsible for sweepstakes. But lawmakers are unified in one respect, they don’t want to make it a crime.
Nearly 3-million Floridians play fantasy sports—that’s a statement one hears thrown out in almost any conversation about fantasy games in Florida. And despite ambiguity surrounding the legality of the games, no lawmakers seem interested in sending the participants to jail.
But Senate Regulated Industries Chair Rob Bradley admits he’s not sure it’s fair to lump season-long games people play with a group of friends, together with daily sports supported by companies like FanDuel.
“I’ve been in a league with my son and family members for 10 years where we pick a team at the beginning of the year and that’s what many Floridians consider to be fantasy sports. Very innocuous. It’s clearly entertainment. It’s fun. And No one in the world is claiming there’s anything wrong with it," Bradley says.
But Bradley says he sees daily sports differently.
“That to me begins to look more and more like what we consider to be traditional sports betting. And that is sort of like I said before, what’s your definition of obscenity. It’s kind of in the eye of the beholder, but you kind of know it when you see it," Bradley says.
Meanwhile, Sen. Joe Negron (R-Stuart) has a plan to regulate fantasy sports.
“If we have potentially hundreds of millions of dollars paid by Floridians to participate in contests, we want to make sure that they’re done properly,” Negron says.
Negron has a bill he says will help ensure that.
“This bill says here’s some regulations. You can’t steal the money. You have to post a bond. You can’t have criminals running it and also gives the government power to have what I think are common sense consumer protections,” Negron says.
But some in the gaming industry have concerns. Marc Dunbar is a lawyer with the Tallahassee law firm Jones Walker. He is representing The Stronach Group and says fantasy sports stand to have a major impact on the horse racing industry.
“We are competing for a lot of the same players—particularly the advantaged players, the folks that wager large volumes, use sophisticated computer algorithms. We are competing in the same space," Dunbar says.
And Dunbar says he thinks fantasy sports should face the same regulations followed by other gambling entities in the state. Right now he says there are no criminal penalties involved with the proposed regulation of fantasy sports. Dunbar says some scandals have already come up within the industry.
“First you had a group, fantasy company that set up shop, took a lot of people’s money, closed shop, took a lot of people’s money, left with their money. There is no criminal penalty to that activity. The second one is the insider trader where you had people inside of FanDuel and DraftKings that were essentially wagering into their pools. That could go on today and there’s no criminal penalty to the activity,” Dunbar says.
But Negron argues that would be covered under the state’s fraud laws. And he says he’ll check to ensure that’s the case.
Meanwhile, a similar bill is moving through the House. It’s sponsored by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Shalimar).
*Correction: This story originally said Marc Dunbar represents the Spectrum Gaming Group. He actually represents the Stronach Group.
