Casino’s in Las Vegas Are Not Pushing To Enter DFS Market
The daily fantasy sports (DFS) market has grown at a rapid pace in the United States and has proven to be a lot more lucrative than the online poker market. The DFS market was not termed as gambling and hence required no regulation, making it easy for companies to launch operations and offer games to players.
Casinos in Las Vegas have so far stayed away from the DFS market even though they had the opportunity to provide DFS gaming to its customers.
The Nevada state gaming association recently decided to ban DraftKings and FanDuel which are two of DFS’s biggest companies as the commission concluded that DFS was not a game of skill and more in line with the online poker industry, which meant that it must be regulated and companies must have a license to operate.
This new investigation has caused the casino industry to pay close attention as a decision will be made in the near future determining whether DFS can be offered without a license, or if it becomes mandatory for companies to get a permit before launching a DFS website. There are some analysts who believe that regulators in Nevada decided to crackdown on the DFS industry because it was eating into the profits of the sports betting and US casino industry.
A representative from DraftKings sent out an email statement which said
We understand that the gaming industry is important to Nevada and, for that reason, Nevada is taking this exclusionary approach against the increasingly popular fantasy sports industry.
This rumour has been refuted by Nevada regulators and casinos who stated that the sports betting industry has continued to do well and has not been impacted at all by the DFS market. The Nevada Gaming Control Board recently confirmed that the Nevada sports books websites managed to bring in $227 in gaming revenue from bets placed on baseball, basketball and football, which was a 61% increased when compared to the revenue generated by the industry in 2011.
The fact that Nevada has banned DraftKings and FanDuel from operating in the state due to the fact that they have no license, makes it easy for casinos in Las Vegas to get involved with the DFS market and try to capture as much market share as they can. However, casinos are not too eager to venture into the DFS industry as it still remains a rather mysterious market due to the lack of clarity on regulations and casinos are not willing to put their license at risk until state regulators make things clear regarding the DFS industry.
