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If you are currently playing with PrizePicks in California, do continue to monitor the latest developments closely.
For the moment anyway, PrizePicks continues to operate in the state. That could all change.
Sen. Scott Wilk reportedly reached out to California Attorney General Rob Bonta for clarity earlier this month as a handful of state regulators believe PrizePicks contest model too closely resembles that of player prop parlays found on many of today's sports betting sites. Wilk has developed a reputation as the Senator going after Ticketmaster for its alleged monopolistic practices.
Most of the concerns over these "pick'em contests" come from regulators in states where sports gambling is already legalized. California is not one of them.
AG Bonta's office will be offering an opinion on the following shortly:
“Does California law prohibit the offering and operation of daily fantasy sports betting platforms with players physically located within the State of California, regardless of whether the operators and associated technology are located within or outside of the state?”
Deputy AG Karim Kentfield will draft the opinion, which is likely to come out some time in December.
PrizePicks and its closest competitor Underdog Fantasy have gone on the defensive of late, insisting their product falls outside the scope of sports betting.
Last month, PrizePicks CEO Adam Wexler insisted his company is all about adhering to regulated markets.
"One issue remains though: the industry is still lightly regulated so as the market leader, we have taken it upon ourselves to ensure we continue to raise the bar. A great example of that was our decision to move to 19 & up while all fantasy operators of scale remain at 18.
"With this latest partnership announcement, we wanted to go above & beyond what regulations require and help ensure the integrity of sporting events -- I'm excited to partner with other entrepreneur innovators in the gaming industry like Matthew Holt & Eric Frank. While games like ours increase in popularity, it's important to ensure the players of the game on the field and the players of our game off the field recognize what is permissible.
"We hope the rest of the fantasy sports industry will continue to raise the bar for an industry experiencing a great wave of innovation."
PrizePicks could ultimately opt to challenge any negative outcome tied to the Deputy AG Kentfield study. They could also adjust their contest model to more closely resemble that of earlier Daily Fantasy Sports sites introduced by DraftKings and FanDuel.
- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com
