The Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) is throwing some serious cold water on the now beleaguered daily fantasy sports industry.
Late last week the NGCB banned DFS sites from operating in the Silver State until they’ve been licensed by the Nevada Gaming Commission.
By requiring DFS operators to be licensed like other sports betting operators, the NGCB has set up something of a Catch-22.
If DFS operators go ahead and apply for a license, they’ll be admitting what gaming regulators across the country have figuring out on their own; DFS is gambling. If they don’t apply, they’re frozen out of the market entirely.
There’s also the very real chance that other state gaming commissions will follow Nevada’s lead, as is so often the case, and require licensing on the state level.
Even worse, in this scenario, the currently DraftKings and Fan Duel will have to navigate a patchwork of state gaming commissions in order to operate in as many states as possible. (And there’s virtually no hope of getting any help from the do-nothing US Congress.)
Nevada’s actions are likely to be viewed as common sense by everyone but the DFS industry and reflect a general consensus that fantasy sports are, indeed, gambling. That doesn’t mean, however, that Nevada is anti-daily fantasy sports, as Gaming Commissioner A.G. Burnett pointed out in an in a statement to the Las Vegas Review Journal:
We’re not saying they can’t do (daily fantasy sports). We’re saying they can do this as long as they have a gaming license.
It’s also expected that the Nevada Congressional delegation will be calling hearing on DFS in the near future.
In short, the day of reckoning for DFS operators seems to have definitely arrived.