Daily Fantasy Sports Industry Launches Major Lobbying Push Across 34 States

Facing legal questions that "could threaten its survival, the fantasy-sports industry has initiated a lobbying blitz in statehouses across the country," according to Alexandra Berzon of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. The effort is being coordinated by the Fantasy Sports Trade Association, FanDuel and DraftKings. A source said that the effort "involves 78 lobbyists in 34 states, up from four lobbyists a year ago." The source added that the companies are spending between $5M-10M on the lobbying effort this year and are "hoping to pass bills exempting fantasy sports from state gambling laws in at least six to eight states." So far the industry "hasn’t faced a large amount of pushback in legislatures," but that "could change as the movement gains more attention in statehouses." The state lobbying effort "started in earnest around a year ago." The only outright victory since then "has come in Kansas, where a lottery bill passed last July explicitly stated that daily fantasy sports was allowed" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 2/16).