Over the past few months, the daily fantasy sports industry in the United States has come under fire. A number of states have reviewed the activity and ruled DFS illegal. Top DFS companies, DraftKings and FanDuel, have ceased operations in several states while some, such as Massachusetts, have passed legislation to regulate the DFS industry, allowing the operators to stay in business.
Both FanDuel and DraftKings have been very cooperative with the Attorney Generals of states who have named the activity illegal and now it seems the companies are going to continue their show of good faith by voluntarily halting all fantasy contests that involved college sporting events. This halt in NCAA activity will be indefinite.
First reported by ESPN, the news of the college sports stoppage comes just a few months after the operators and the NCAA began negotiations. The NCAA has long been against the DFS contests, stating the industry is exploiting the athletes by making money off of the NCAA. Mark Emmert, is the President of the NCAA, who stated that the association would continue to work with the state governments to make sure that pro-DFS legislation that is under consideration will carry similar college carveouts.
The halt in college contests will not take place until after the final of March Madness, allowing the operators to get in one last round of NCAA activity until the NFL season takes place later on in the year.
While it has been reported that FanDuel can only count around 3% in overall revenues being derived from college sports, the company, along with DraftKings, have suffered a major hit as they have had to cease overall operations in several states to be able to stay in compliance with new rulings against DFS. The companies have withdrawn from several markets as regulators of states as well as attorneys general show their doubts in regards to the legality of daily fantasy sports.