FL Restricts Fantasy Sports; Seminoles' Betting App Controversy

SportsGrid

Watch FL Restricts Fantasy Sports; Seminoles' Betting App Controversy - SportsGrid on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00 (upbeat music)

00:03 - Right now it appears that the Seminole tribe

00:05 will not relaunch their Hard Rock sports betting app

00:08 as this group West Flagler has been petitioning

00:11 to not allow it and have filed for the Supreme Court.

00:15 But the latest story here, Sam,

00:17 is now another level of sports betting

00:20 taken to the fantasy side as they're cracking down

00:23 on what they claim to be illegal bets

00:25 offered by fantasy sites.

00:27 And Florida has ordered prize picks,

00:29 Underdog and some other sites to offering,

00:31 to stop offering fantasy sports immediately.

00:34 And Sam, I can speak to this very interestingly enough.

00:37 Last Sunday morning, I'm driving on the highway

00:41 and I saw an ad for prize picks, like offering,

00:44 hey, like this is how you sign up.

00:45 You may wanna pick Tua, you may wanna pick Tyreek Hill.

00:48 And I saw the ad and now I wonder

00:51 if I'll be seeing them again.

00:52 - Well, Craig, first of all,

00:55 did you pick Tua or Tyreek Hill?

00:57 'Cause if you did, you'd be a rich man.

00:58 - I wish I could say I did, but no, I did not.

01:02 - Yeah, so unfortunately for you

01:04 and everybody else in Florida

01:05 who's been clamoring for sports betting,

01:07 I know time and again on this show,

01:09 you guys have hit on what's going on with this case

01:12 that might go to the Supreme Court

01:13 or rather what's not going on.

01:15 And basically sports betting is in limbo, as you know,

01:18 and we're still waiting on that.

01:19 But other people in Florida who wanted it on sports

01:23 have essentially been using these apps,

01:24 prize picks, Underdog, now Better,

01:27 has their own product, Better Picks,

01:29 playing on their Pick'em games,

01:31 very close to sports betting.

01:32 It sort of operates under (indistinct)

01:36 to most states, which in Florida,

01:38 like a lot of other places, it's kind of a gray area.

01:40 So it's been a huge market for these companies.

01:43 It's no coincidence that you're seeing ads everywhere.

01:46 It's people who wanna be able to bet on sports legally

01:48 in Florida are turning to these apps

01:50 and it's a huge driver.

01:52 One of the reasons that their downloads

01:53 are up massively year over year,

01:56 especially compared to the more traditional

01:58 fantasy sports operators like FanDuel or DraftKings,

02:01 which have really focused a lot of their attention

02:02 on the actual sports betting in those legal states.

02:05 But this past week, the Florida Gaming Commission

02:08 sent three cease and desist orders to those companies,

02:11 basically telling them that all forms

02:13 of paid fantasy sports are illegal

02:15 and we are deeming you in violation of that law

02:19 and you gotta leave the state immediately.

02:21 It's really interesting timing with the case going on

02:24 and potentially the Hard Rock app coming back online.

02:27 You have to wonder if maybe they wanna eliminate

02:29 what they see as competition.

02:31 But what really stood out in these letters

02:33 was unlike the other states that have cracked down

02:35 on this sort of pick 'em, player parlay mechanism

02:38 that these apps use.

02:40 This letter said that all forms

02:42 of paid fantasy sports entries are illegal.

02:45 So that would seemingly implicate DraftKings and FanDuel

02:48 and other daily fantasy sports operators

02:50 that have been in the state for years.

02:53 But they didn't receive letters

02:55 and I haven't gotten any indication that they will.

02:58 So right now it's these pick 'em companies

03:01 getting targeted by Florida.

03:02 They just updated their FAQ page on the regulator's site

03:06 to kind of address fantasy sports even more

03:08 to make it explicitly clear

03:09 that they consider it sports betting,

03:11 which would only be legal through an app

03:14 controlled by the Seminole tribe.

03:16 So right now the apps are saying

03:17 we're gonna keep operating,

03:18 keep fighting against it, work with regulators,

03:21 potentially even lobby to create a law.

03:24 Florida's fantasy sports laws are very old.

03:26 So a lot of this was written before we even had a concept

03:30 of the ideas we're talking about now

03:31 with pick 'em and different contests.

03:33 But it's a huge state, so its implications could be massive.

03:38 (upbeat music)

03:41 [MUSIC]

Category

Transcript

Recommended