Leave Daily Fantasy Sports Regulation To The States

Forbes reports on Michelle Minton and Steven Titch's study on online gambling regulations. 

Leave it to the states. That is the conclusion of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), which has released a new report regarding online gambling with a focus on daily fantasy sports. The report is released in advance of a scheduled hearing before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce on the issues and perspectives of the daily fantasy sports industry.

A major takeaway from the report is that the authors, Michelle Minton and Steven Titch, believe states and localities are already successfully regulating online gambling — referencing three states that currently provide for online gambling and the many countries that have legalized online gambling already in place. Instead of wondering whether online gambling or daily fantasy sports should be prohibited on a federal level, the authors prefer a discussion about what kind of gambling regulations are best for America today and whether regulation should be left to the states or the federal government.

primarily focused on safeguarding gamblers against fraud. The authors note that when regulation is selective (i.e. permitting some games and not others) or when regulations try to curb “bad habits” or “poor choices,” they end up harming rather than helping players by creating an ecosystem of games that have worse odds or by pushing players to black markets.

“Regulation of gambling has been traditionally left to the states,” says the report. “It should remain a state-level responsibility, without additional federal oversight beyond enforcement of existing federal laws that apply to all other businesses, such a tax responsibility, antitrust rules, and other economic regulations.”

Read the full article at Forbes.