[toc]The New York State Gaming Commission has granted temporary permits to five daily fantasy sports companies, allowing them to once again operate in the state.
These temporary permits come for the start of the National Football League season. These temporary licenses were granted just after a state law, allowing daily fantasy sports to take place legally within New York state, was enacted. That came after some consternation about whether the bill would pass.
The announcement from the commission came last week.
Who is back online?
Daily fantasy sports operators wasted no time in resuming operations in New York.
DraftKings was up and running mere hours after the announcement, with CEO Jason Robins thanking the state and saying DraftKings is thrilled to be providing contests again.
FanDuel, Draft, FantasyDraft and Yahoo also received temporary licenses.
What’s the catch for daily fantasy sports?
Operators will now have to pay an annual licensing fee to take part, which can cost them up to $50,000 per year. In addition, they will be required to pay 15 percent in taxes on their revenue.
As expected, players must be at least 18 years of age in order take part.
Additionally, there are to be no daily fantasy contests on high school or college games.
It is expected that further, long-term regulations will be worked out by the gaming commission later on.
Daily fantasy sports out of legal limbo
In November of last year, NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman declared that daily fantasy sports games were illegal gambling according to state law.
Then, he reached a settlement with DraftKings and FanDuel in March, in which the sites exited the state while the legislature considered daily fantasy sports regulation.
Since then, lawmakers have passed a bill that defined daily fantasy sports as a game of skill and the law was signed by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo earlier this month.
About daily fantasy sports
Daily fantasy sports are a type of fantasy sport game, in which players compete against others by selecting a team of various athletes from a certain league or sport. They earn points based on the performances of their selected players over the course of the season or competition.
The difference is that daily fantasy sports takes place over just one day of competition, rather than the many weeks or months that traditional fantasy sports competitions would encompass.
These are usually done in the form of a contest in which players pay an entry fee and receive a pre-determined share of a prize pool according to their final standing, much like a poker tournament.
Like online poker, daily fantasy sports has faced a lot of legal controversy in the United States, with many critics claiming that players are simply making wagers on sport. Defenders of daily fantasy sports argue that is a game of skill owing to the required knowledge of players, teams and other factors.
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