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The Press of Atlantic City’s Hoa Nguyen has confirmed that New Jersey’s allowance of fantasy sports betting in the gambling town’s casinos will not constitute “gambling”.
The Division of Gaming Enforcement published temporary regulations on Monday that permit fantasy sports tournaments, allowing patrons to be charged an entry fee with winnings paid out through the casino cage. The activity is not considered gambling as per the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006, which exempts fantasy sports betting.
The announcement that Atlantic City casinos would permit the activity was announced over this past weekend.
"This gives players the option to deposit money and then play daily fantasy games, where they pick three or five Major League Baseball or National Football League or National Basketball Association players and build an aggregate roster just for that one day," said Joe Brennan, president of the Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association, an online gambling trade association. "Just like those leagues where you pick teams and follow them all season, you won't have to wait till the end of the year to see who wins. You would just wait till the end of the day to see who wins the prize."
The casinos could offer the games themselves or partner with other companies.
It remains to be seen whether the fantasy bets could be made online or would have to be made in person at the casinos. Several websites already offer such betting, including fanduel.com and draftday.com.
“This is an alternative,” Brennan told the Press of Atlantic City. “The leagues can’t argue against it, because they lobbied so hard for it.
“That is the first license requirement that this industry has seen,” Brennan said.
The Fantasy Sports Trade Association estimates there are 35 million players in the United States and Canada with the overall mean age of 41.
- Gilbert Horowitz, Gambling911.com
