The age to enter fantasy sports contests in New York is 18 but if a bill currently under discussion is approved, that minimum age will be raised to 21, mirroring the age requirement for sports betting.
Age Boost
One of the leading proponents for mobile sports betting and iGaming in the Empire State, Senator Joseph Addabbo Jr., has sponsored Senate Bill 9044, which would hike the minimum age for wagering on fantasy sports contests from 18 to 21, bringing it in line with the age requirement for sports betting minimum in the state.
Moreover, the bill would also allow fantasy sports operators to offer peer-to-peer proposition-style pick’em contests, unlike the previous version, which saw customers playing against the house, virtually identical to parlay bets that online sportsbooks offer on their betting menus.
According to the language in Senator Addabbo’s bill, DFS operators would pay an initial fee of $5 million and 1% of gross revenue would be added as renewal fees every five years. This would bring more platform providers into the fold and generate as much as $150 million in revenue for the state versus the $4 million they make from DFS sites now.
“By codifying the language, and changing the makeup of the games and the amount of platform providers, hopefully, we can increase the amount of revenue and make it a better product,” said Addabbo.
Stacie Stern, senior vice president of government affairs for Underdog Fantasy, said in a statement, “Sen. Addabbo has long been an advocate for one of the most important concepts in gaming regulation — clarity. This bill is thoughtful and detailed and will bring clear definitions and rules of the road to operators and regulators.”
What’s It All About?
Traditional daily fantasy sports (DFS) operators conduct tournaments in which users build a team based on the players available for that sport’s games on that particular day. Usually, a salary cap is used in which each player is assigned a specific salary, limiting the number of superstar players that can be used on one roster making the game more strategic.
The contestant with the most points will win the tournament but cash prizes are also awarded in descending amounts for other top point-getters. This is how a traditional DFS tournament works but some operators have been using pick ’em-style parlay contests to generate more revenue. This consists of a customer picking over or under a designated number of rushing, passing, or receiving yards in football or points scored, rebounds, or assists in basketball, for example.
The pick’em style parlay games are played against the house, exactly as one would bet against a sports bookmaker. Because these DFS betting options were blurring the lines between what mobile sportsbooks were already offering, it triggered the New York State Gaming Commission to adopt New York Rule 5602.1(a)(4), in October 2023 which made proposition betting illegal through DFS sites.
This new law would allow DFS sites to restart those betting options but unlike before, these would be peer-to-peer tournament-style games and not betting against the house. As in the regular DFS tournaments, the site would take a rake, or commission, of all entry fees but not book the bets directly as they did in the past.
