 Proponents say the bill provides reasonable regulation while allowing
Illinoisans to play if they wish.
Opponents say the measure represents a large expansion of gambling and endangers
young people, families and communities.
See related article: A.G. Madigan says fantasy sports gaming illegal; however,
pending legislation could change that
SPRINGFIELD — A state lawmaker says his bill to formally legalize online sports
fantasy contests would protect as many 2 million Illinoisans who play, as well
as small businesses that offer the games or related services.
Illinois law neither explicitly allows or forbids the games, which have
participants open real-money accounts with online operators.
The fantasy teams are composed of actual athletes who are “drafted” for the
fantasy match-ups, some of which can be played daily. Others are offered longer
term, pitting a customer’s team’s stats against other game players over the
course of an entire sports season.
The game operators keep a certain amount or “fee” for administering the
enterprises and pay out the rest as prizes. Millions of people in the U.S. and
Canada play the games, creating a rapidly growing, multi-billion-dollar
industry.
At the moment, the question of whether fantasy sports games are gambling and
therefore illegal in Illinois is up for grabs — including in the courts.
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan in December issued an opinion saying
contests on the fantasy sports websites constituted illegal gambling under
existing state law.
Further, she said the argument over whether the contests are matters of skill or
chance isn’t relevant in Illinois because state law prohibits the playing of
either for money unless the contests are specifically allowed.
The attorney general did say the General Assembly could pass legislation
specifically exempting daily fantasy sports contests.
Rep. Mike Zalewski’s bill, first introduced in October, would do that.
Zalewski, D-Riverside, said the legislation is not all about catering to huge
fantasy sports providers, such as DraftKings and FanDuel, but also would protect
people who play the games and small Illinois companies that are game providers
or that offer related products, such as data services.
Illinois is now in “a legal limbo of what’s OK and what’s not OK, and that’s not
acceptable when you have, by some estimates, 2 million people playing fantasy
football in Illinois,” Zalewski said Thursday.
While the country’s biggest operators have sued to keep their operations up and
running in Illinois, smaller fantasy sports providers are on the sidelines until
there’s some clarity, said one of those operators.
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 “Unlike DraftKings and FanDuel, we don’t have financial backing
that would allow us to take on any litigation risk, so we’ve
actually stopped offering our contests in Illinois as of December,”
said Tony Giordano, co-founder of SideLeague, a Chicago-based
business that he said has 10 employees and was serving about 10,000
players in Illinois.
Zalewski said he’s less interested in resolving the “gambling or not
gambling” or “game of skill vs. game of chance” questions than he is
letting adults continue to play the games if they wish to — but with
some reasonable regulation.
For instance, he said, his bill would:
Define what what is considered daily fantasy sports in Illinois.
Bar anyone younger than 18 from playing.
Establish “best practices” for the industry, including limits on how
often a person can play, letting the sites check players for
child-support liens and establishing audit standards.
Prohibit athletes and industry insiders from playing.
If his fellow lawmakers believe more regulations, such as those
applied to the horse racing and casino industries in Illinois, are
needed, Zalewski’s said he’s willing to listen.
The nature and legality of daily fantasy sports operations are being
debated across the country, and not everyone’s a fan.
John Warren Kindt, a University of Illinois professor emeritus of
business and legal policy, is a critic of gambling and believes
fantasy sports contests are definitely gambling.
“Basically what it does is that it destabilizes economic
institutions and financial institutions,” Kindt recently told
Virginia lawmakers considering fantasy sports legislation.
“If we have daily fantasy sports, literally you can click your mouse
lose your house, click your phone lose your home,” Kindt said,
according to WAMU 88.5, American University Radio.
Anita Bedell, executive director of Illinois Church Action on
Alcohol and Addiction Problems, said her organization opposes the
bill.
“This is a massive expansion of gambling that will affect young
people, especially young males,” said Bedell.
Today’s technology also makes online gambling a pervasive presence,
she said.
People “can have it anywhere, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, nonstop
— that’s a problem,” Bedell said.
She said the Church Action stance on fantasy sports gaming remains,
“Don’t rush to legalize something that is illegal and should stay
that way.”
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