The daily fantasy sports (DFS) industry seems dead set on proving the old saying, “There’s no such thing as bad publicity,” as a hopelessly dated anachronism.
Just one week after news of a major insider trading scandal splashed across the web, the industry has attracted the attention of revenue hungry state politician.
This week, lawmakers in both California and Massachusetts have said they’re interested in making certain daily fantasy sports sites are properly taxed. To call this terrible news for anyone with a financial interest in this sector of gambling industry is something of an understatement.
In Massachusetts, House Speaker Robert DeLeo said, flatly, that the state should be getting, “its fair share,” of those piles of DFS revenue. He’s joined by the State’s Attorney General, Maura Healey, who is already investigating the legality of daily fantasy sports in Massachusetts.
On the other side of the country in California, Assemblyman Adam Gray has launched his own investigation into the legality of DFS. In a statement reported on by CalvinAyre.com the politician said:
Daily fantasy sports is happening in California, whether we like it or not. This is an unregulated industry, whose revenue is in the billions of dollars. All other gaming activities in the state are subject to regulations that ensure a safe environment for gambling.
Gray went on to use the investigation to pitch the value of online gambling in the Golden State.
So what are the states looking for when they go out investigating?
For the most part, they’re trying to figure out exactly, as the gentleman from Massachusetts said, how the state can get its fair share. Watch for a whole flurry of new taxes to hit DFS by this time next year.