Tennessee says yes to DFS licensing

Tennessee has become the latest US state to regulate daily fantasy sports (DFS) services, passing its ‘Fantasy Sports Act 2016’ motion into law on 1 July.

State lawmakers will begin processing licensing application schemes, allowing US-based operators such as DraftKings, FanDuel and Yahoo Sports to operate services for Tennessee consumers.

The ‘Fantasy Sports Act 2016’ was passed despite the state Attorney General Herbert Slatery III declaring that DFS services were clearly in breach of its gambling laws.

However, Tennessee lawmakers would approve changes to existing laws allowing entry for DFS operators alongside state lottery services.

Although entering its early stages as a state monitoring DFS services, industry stakeholders believe that Tennessee will follow the licensing route taken by Indiana and Virginia a charge DFS operators a required licence of $50,000.

Leading US DFS operator FanDuel stated that Tennessee officials had taken a step in the right direction towards protecting state consumers by passing its Fantasy Sports Act.

FanDuel estimates that there are more than 1 million fantasy sports players in the state of Tennessee.

The legislature has passed strong, but smart regulations ensuring the more than one million fantasy players in Tennessee benefit from important consumer protections and can continue to play fantasy sports. We want to thank the bill sponsors Senator Jack Johnson and Representative Pat Marsh, and the members of the legislature for taking a detailed and careful approach to this issue, which delivered a reasonable solution for the state.”