It is not clear whether Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens will take legal action now that his office has decided daily fantasy sports games are a form of illegal gambling.
Olens through a spokesman declined comment Wednesday, two days after the state Senate failed to take action on legislation that would have for the first time made daily fantasy sports games subject to state regulation.
The Senate’s decision came as Georgia Lottery officials received an informal opinion from Wright Banks Jr., deputy attorney general, that said the games were not authorized under state law. State lottery officials, which operate the few gambling-like games allowed in Georgia, had already asked daily fantasy sports operators for information about their businesses.
An estimated 1.5 million people play daily fantasy sports games in Georgia, and the legislation's sponsor, state Sen. Renee Unterman, R-Buford, had sought to find a way around Georgia's anti-gambling laws by instead classifying daily fantasy sports as a game of skill.
That distinction is the same made by major industry operators including FanDuel and DraftKings, which insist fantasy sports are a game of skill and should therefore be exempt from a federal online gambling prohibition.
A number of states either have or are currently considering how to regulate the games, but have taken different stances. Nevada gambling regulators, for example, began last year to require that companies offering daily fantasy sports obtain a state gambling license to continue operating there.
Attorneys general in Texas, Illinois and New York have either taken legal action or threatened to do so against the companies.
Yet just last week, the Virginia General Assembly became the first state legislature in the country to establish a legal framework for fantasy sports.
DraftKings lawyer Randy Mastro this week said Georgia would do better to follow Virginia’s example than the others.
Daily fantasy sports games, he said, are “a legitimate business activity that has operated openly and permissibly in Georgia for years.”
“It is the citizens of Georgia, through their elected representatives, who should decide whether they can continue to enjoy fantasy sports,” Mastro said. “DraftKings will therefore support legislation that regulates fantasy sports with thoughtful and appropriate consumer protections, and we urge Georgians to tell their elected representatives that they want to be able to continue to enjoy fantasy sports.”
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