Massachusetts legalises fantasy sports

The future of daily fantasy sports (DFS) has been secured in Massachusetts after regulations were signed into law by the US state’s governor.

The new rules include a minimum age of 21 for participants, bar games based on college or amateur sports and prohibit individual players from spending more than $1,000 each month without proof they could withstand deep financial losses.

The regulations, which were put forward by Attorney General Maura Healey earlier this year, also require DFS operators to offer ‘beginner’ contests that highly experienced players would be prevented from entering.

After signing a bill including the DFS provisions, Governor Charlie Baker made reference to DraftKings, which is based in Boston, Massachusetts.

He said: “What I believe we were doing was simply taking what the attorney general put out there as sort of directional guidance and turned into a statute so that a company like DraftKings — which is big and successful in the consumer online business — can continue to be headquartered here in the commonwealth.”

DraftKings co-founder and CEO Jason Robins said: “For us it was more about making sure that our standing on the legal front was very clear.

“Regulations can bog down, but if it's done the right way it enables industry, it allows it to continue to flourish. In our case it'll help. It will make it so we can grow faster and do it in the right way.”

The development comes just a week after New York also introduced laws that allow DFS to resume in the state some nine months after the sector was temporarily banned.

Related article: DFS legalised in New York