Draftkings Ohio

Dec 09, 2020 DraftKings actually agrees with Lamont’s preference — at least in Ohio, in spirit, and in other states where DraftKings is not yet licensed to offer its sportsbook. The company, alongside FanDuel, said in written testimony in November before an Ohio Senate subcommittee. .Reward tiers are as follows: $3, $10, $100 and $500 are awarded as site credits and can only be used on DraftKings. $1,000, $10,000 & $25,000 are issued. DraftKings will probably be one of the first to secure a deal and will have its choice of the lot of casinos in Ohio. The Eldorado Gaming Scioto Downs is the largest casino in the state and could be an attractive option for DraftKings. We know that MGM will be partnering with its online sportsbook BetMGM. Playing daily fantasy football on Draftkings is legal in almost all states. It’s called the UIEGA, or the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. The UIEGA is the provision (snuck into a terrorism-related port bill at the last minute in the fall of 2006), that led to the destruction of the online poker boom in the United States. You will not be able to bet using the Draftkings sportsbook app from Ohio as that state is yet to amend its laws applying to sports wagering. Sportsbooks like BetOnline (in business since 1999.

If you’re in New Jersey, you have access to DraftKings Sportsbook. Here’s a rundown of where you can find DraftKings for sports betting now and in the future.

DraftKings Sportsbook online

Here are the states where you can find DraftKings:

DraftKings in NJ

Draftkings Sportsbook Ohio

The well-dressed DraftKings NJ sports betting platform operates under the license of Resorts Atlantic City, but it’s available across web and mobile channels statewide. As long as you’re in the state, you can wager.

The product is perhaps more polished and market-ready than we expected from DraftKings. The company was, after all, solely a daily fantasy sports outfit until May 2018.

It was the first online sportsbook in the state and currently is the biggest in terms of revenue.

DraftKings in West Virginia

DraftKings Sportsbook announced a deal in December 2018 to operate WV sports betting via mobile. DraftKings partnered with Penn National Gaming, which runs Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races.

DraftKings Sportsbook went live in WV in August, around the same time as rival FanDuel launched. While West Virginia is a relatively small state, it’s still important for DraftKings to expand everywhere it can.

DraftKings in Indiana

The third state for the DraftKings Sportsbook app was Indiana. It was one of the first two sportsbook apps to go live in the state on Oct. 3.

Indiana is not a huge state, but it’s notable for its proximity to several large cities where sports betting is not yet legal, including Chicago, Cincinnati and Louisville.

Land-based DraftKings Sportsbooks

There are currently two land-based DraftKings Sportsbooks in the US:

• DraftKings Sportsbook at Resorts, in New Jersey
• DraftKings Sportsbook at Scarlet Pearl Resort in Mississippi.

States that may have DraftKings Sportsbooks in the future

Potential for growth is capped in the short term, however. While FanDuel has racked up market-access partnerships throughout the country, DraftKings is still pretty lean on that front.

Here’s the list of states in which you might see the next DraftKings Sportsbook pop up, and it’s not a very long one:

New York

Apart from NJ, New York is the only other state in which DraftKings has a confirmed point of entry. It announced a partnership with Del Lago in July 2018 that covers both retail and online/mobile operations. If that materializes, Del Lago could end up christening the first on-property, DraftKings-branded sportsbook in the country.

That’s all well and good, except NY sports betting is not yet in place. Voters approved the activity for four commercial casinos in 2013, but regulators have lagged on implementation. What’s more: that existing law excludes online/mobile wagering, so a new one likely will be required before the DraftKings Sportsbook app launches in NY.

Recent rumblings create some cause for optimism on the retail side, but the timeline for NY sports betting is still very much up in the air.

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania is a little closer to becoming an online sports betting state than its neighbor. Full legalization came late in 2017, and launch arrived in November 2018.

DraftKings figures to be a candidate to partner with one of the PA casinos, but it would have limited ability to fully leverage its brand. State regulations permit each casino to deploy just a single online/mobile platform displaying its own logo. Each may only use one sports betting partner.

About half of the 13 prospective licensees are off the board, it appears:

• SugarHouse/Rivers: Owned by Rush Street, which has a partnership with Kambi. That’s DraftKings’ supplier, too, but there’s no indication it is part of the deal.
• Parx: Recently announced that it will use GAN to power its operations. It works with Kambi as well.
• Presque Isle/Lady Luck: Both will soon be operated by Churchill Downs, which has established a partnership with SBTech.
• Harrah’s: Parent company Caesars has an NJ partnership with Scientific Games that figures to carry across the border.

It’s also impossible to pin down a timeline for the launch of online PA sports betting, but it’s coming sometime in 2019.

Nevada

This one could be interesting, since Nevada is one of the few states in which daily fantasy sports is explicitly prohibited as a skill game. DraftKings is a sports betting company now, though, an activity that is very much legal and thriving in the Silver State.

It has generally seemed unlikely that DraftKings would pursue Nevada sports betting, but nothing is a given anymore. The company recently announced plans to open an office in Las Vegas, which at least draws a raise of the eyebrow. DraftKings wouldn’t pay for a license to offer DFS as a “gambling” game, but might it do so in the world of widespread sports betting?

It’s also worth noting that CG Technologies is being pushed out of the Nevada market amid a string of gaming violations. Either it or the many sportsbooks it serves will need to find a replacement supplier, and a shiny new option has just become available courtesy of DraftKings.

File that last bit of evidence in the circumstantial folder.

Other candidates

Any state with legal sports betting should be considered a candidate for a DraftKings Sportsbook, really. In this post-PASPA world, company executives have made no secrets about their ambitions.

Rhode Island and Delaware have both legalized sports betting, too. Neither operates mobile betting, however, although it is legal in Delaware. The industries in both states are administered by state-chosen suppliers under the lottery’s direction.

It looks like the states broken down above represent the complete list of candidates for DraftKings Sportsbook in the short term. Despite its early lead, it’s even possible that it could still be stuck in only NJ and Mississippi when the calendar ticks over.

At least they have Barkley.

Online daily fantasy sports have exploded in recent years. Draftkings and Fanduel are the two most prominent websites offering daily fantasy sports. While these websites are incredibly popular, they may run afoul of state criminal laws. Individual states have different positions. Some states consider daily fantasy sports legal and regulate them like gambling. These states include Colorado, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, Tennessee, and Virginia. Some states have such restrictions that Draftkings and Fanduel do not operate in Arizona, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana, and Washington. The remaining states have not clarified the issue entirely or require a license (Nevada). The current state of the law in Ohio does not address whether online daily fantasy sports are, in fact, legal. Approximately 2 million people in Ohio participate in online fantasy sports. With an estimated population of 11.6 million, that is 17% of Ohioans that could be affected or at least must consider the consequences of any potential legislation affecting Draftkings or Fanduel.[[1]](https://black-curlewzx-cloudventzx-net.i.proxee.co/_drafts/draftkings-and-fanduel-legal-in-ohio.md#_ftn1 “”)

Draftkings Ohio Rules

There are a wide variety of ways to participate in daily fantasy sports across multiple professional sports. Depending on the category, the number of participants in any single game ranges from two people to thousands. The participant pays an entry fee of $0 to over $10,000. Once entered, the participant assembles a “team” by picking, or drafting, individual players from actual professional sports teams. Based upon that player’s and the assembled team’s statistical performance, in addition to the payout structure of any particular game or category, prize money is distributed. In some categories the prize money is guaranteed regardless of the number of participants. In others, prize money is not guaranteed unless there are a certain number of entrants into that contest. Generally speaking, Draftkings and Fanduel keep a percentage of the entry fees.

Draftkings Best Ball Payout Structure

Online daily fantasy sports are “permissible” under federal law. The Unlawful Internet and Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 makes it illegal for an entity to accept a bet or wager over the internet. 31 U.S.C. Section 5363. However, the law excludes fantasy sports and therefore does not make them unlawful. The Act also acknowledges that it does not preempt States regulation of online fantasy sports.

Ohio Revised Code, Title 29, Section 15, regulates gambling in Ohio. There are a few provisions which may apply to online fantasy sports. Specifically, “[n]o person shall…[e]ngage in bookmaking, or knowingly engage in conduct that facilitates bookmaking,” or “[e]stablish, promote, or operate or knowingly engage in conduct that facilitates any game of chance conducted for profit or any scheme of chance…” R.C. 2915.02 (A)(2). “Bookmaking” means the “business of receiving or paying off bets.” R.C. 2915.01 (B). “Scheme of chance” means, among other things, a “pool conducted for profit” or “other scheme in which a participant gives valuable consideration for a chance to win a prize.” R.C. 2915.01 (C). Therefore, under Ohio law, Draftkings and Fanduel are arguably illegal gambling depending on the game being played. “Pools conducted for profit” seem to present the biggest issue because a portion of the entry fee is not paid out in prize money. This is known as a “rake.” However, advocates for Draftkings and Fanduel contend that fantasy sports are not illegal gambling because they are games of skill, not games or schemes of chance.

On June 30, 2016, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office issued a Memorandum to Ohio Senator Bill Coley regarding daily fantasy sports websites. The Memorandum generally analyzed the various contests offered and whether Draftkings and Fanduel are illegal gambling under Ohio law. Notably, the Memorandum addresses those contests where the skill versus chance inquiry is irrelevant – “pools conducted for profit.” While illegal, this term is not defined under current Ohio law. Ultimately the Memorandum was inconclusive and did not give any formal position.

Senator Coley subsequently introduced Senate Bill 356 in September of 2016. The bill would have defined daily fantasy sports as a “scheme of chance,” thus making daily fantasy sports illegal. Coley argues that those games that charge a “rake” are illegal under existing law. In December of 2016, Ohio Senator Dave Burke introduced Senate Bill 375. The bill would legalize and regulate daily fantasy sports in Ohio, requiring operators to pay a $30,000 license fee. Moreover, the legislation would acknowledge that the outcomes of online fantasy sports “reflect the relative knowledge and skill of the fantasy contest players…”

Draftkings Ohio State Alabama

The 132^nd Ohio General Assembly is once again taking up the issue. House Bill 132 is the most recent legislation introduced on March 16, 2017 by House Representative Jonathan Dever and House Representative Robert McColley. The legislation mirrors Senator Burke’s Senate Bill 375 and would legalize online fantasy sports. So far, there has been no legislation introduced in the current session that would outlaw online fantasy sports where a profit is earned.

Stay tuned for a potential legislative battle.

[1] State by state analysis current as of June 2016 per the Ohio Attorney General.

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