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 Fantasy sports, which have been popular for decades, allow
participants to create fictional teams of athletes from national
sports leagues. The better a chosen athlete performs in real life,
the better the player's fantasy team does.
The opinion from the office of Tennessee Attorney General Herbert
Slatery III follows increased scrutiny of fantasy sports from state
regulators over the past year, with attorney generals in New York,
Illinois and Nevada challenging their legality.
Officials in particular have turned their attention to online daily
fantasy sports competitions which allow players to draft teams for
games lasting just one evening or a weekend, in a turbo-charged
version of the original season-long contests.
Slatery's office, in a three page opinion, challenged the legality
of fantasy contests that give players the chance to win a share of a
cash prize, which their entry fees help fund.
 "A person who knowingly engages in 'gambling' commits a punishable
offense," Slatery's office said in the opinion released on Tuesday.
"Absent legislation specifically exempting fantasy sports contests
from the definition of 'gambling,' these contests constitute illegal
gambling under Tennessee law," it said.
Top daily fantasy sports companies FanDuel and DraftKings last month
agreed to halt their business in New York, betting on a legislative
path to make the games legal after a months-long fight.
DraftKings said in a statement it was having "an active dialogue
with elected officials" in Tennessee to advance legislation to
govern the company's "skill-based contests".
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"We call on all of our fans and Tennessee supporters to let their
voices be heard in the coming days to show support for this
legislation and protect their right to play the games they love,"
the company statement said.
Tennessee law broadly defines gambling as risking anything of value
for a profit whose return is contingent on chance, subject to a few
exceptions, the Tennessee attorney general opinion said.
Gambling does not include a lawful business transaction, annual
events benefiting nonprofit organizations and a state lottery,
according to the opinion.
Craig Fitzhugh, a Democratic state representative in Tennessee,
requested the opinion.
(Reporting by Suzannah Gonzales and Alex Dobuzinskis, editing by G
Crosse)
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