The Times Are Changing For Season Long Games

[TOXIC ASSETS]

The government is well on their way to ruining this industry --- both DFS and season long, with a money grab.

[Cocktails and Dreams]

The bill got through the smaller committee and headed to the floor now in Nebraska. Not able to get it changed yet, and now likely won't be able to. Trying to get it to fail getting passed. Senator Larson wouldn't return my attempts. Neither would my own damn Senator. They will be made a mockery of if this passes. At least I was able to get the Omaha World Herald to listen, since they don't. Wasn't as hard on them as I tried to get them to be. This guy has to deal with them constantly though, so he has to be careful. I got him in touch with Greg as well to give another perspective on the whole debacle.

http://www.omaha.com/news/legislature/n ... 52040.html

[Greg Ambrosius]

The bill got through the smaller committee and headed to the floor now in Nebraska. Not able to get it changed yet, and now likely won't be able to. Trying to get it to fail getting passed. Senator Larson wouldn't return my attempts. Neither would my own damn Senator. They will be made a mockery of if this passes. At least I was able to get the Omaha World Herald to listen, since they don't. Wasn't as hard on them as I tried to get them to be. This guy has to deal with them constantly though, so he has to be careful. I got him in touch with Greg as well to give another perspective on the whole debacle.

http://www.omaha.com/news/legislature/n ... 52040.html

Thanks to Chad for all he tried to do in Nebraska. The reporter I talked to certainly understood the difference between the two games and how this could affect our industry, but I think he knew this was already headed down the path. I agree with Chad, if they are going to pass a bad bill we want no bill passed instead. They aren't taking the time to understand the difference between the two games and if the licensing fee is too high it could prevent most game operators from allowing Nebraska residents to play. We'll see what happens.

[King of Queens]

Here's some positive news from today:

Part of the argument for DraftKings and FanDuel throughout this year is likely to be passing laws that are as inclusive as possible for other paid-entry fantasy sports sites.

That dynamic has been on display in some states, most notably Nebraska, where a fantasy bill recently passed out of a legislative committee. An amendment to the initial bill intends to make it more inclusive:

Other companies offer season-long contests in which customers pay the entry fee at the start of the season, draft their players and then manage their teams 16 weeks for football or 26 weeks for baseball. Some of those companies generate much smaller revenues, and they squawked about fees.

In response to their concerns, the committee adopted an amendment to put the fees on a sliding scale depending on how much business each company does in the state. The lowest any company would have to pay is $1,000.

Bills are advancing in states that passed laws in 2016 to be more inclusive and to lower the barrier to entry for smaller DFS and season-long operators.

Regulation being more inclusive of the larger fantasy sports market — not catering just to DraftKings and FanDuel — could help the prospects of the merger.

http://www.legalsportsreport.com/13110/ ... el-merger/

[Cocktails and Dreams]

Got the job done in Nebraska. Will be even more prepared next year having fought this thing once. It is not going to get through this time though, which was the goal. The bill needs to be written properly or not put through. While this wasn't a complete success, as I didn't get a well written bill passed, at least Nebraska did not get an embarrassing bill passed. Time to regroup and be ready to to get this done correctly next year. In the meantime, I hope few states get bad bills passed. Crucial to get a good bill passed so there is positive example for future states.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Got the job done in Nebraska. Will be even more prepared next year having fought this thing once. It is not going to get through this time though, which was the goal. The bill needs to be written properly or not put through. While this wasn't a complete success, as I didn't get a well written bill passed, at least Nebraska did not get an embarrassing bill passed. Time to regroup and be ready to to get this done correctly next year. In the meantime, I hope few states get bad bills passed. Crucial to get a good bill passed so there is positive example for future states.

Thanks for helping in Nebraska Chad. I'm pretty sure that not all of the legislators voting on these state-by-state DFS bills even understand our industry, moreso the difference between DFS and season-long. I've said it before and I'll say it again, by charging big licensing fees up-front, they are just ENABLING the big DFS companies to have monopolies in those states. And they become barriers to entry for new companies and new innovation. DFS could use a different format/game and these barriers to entry keep those games the same.

There are currently bills in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Illinois that are going through the channels that will affect a lot of fantasy players. Keep your eyes on those because we could see action on all of them this month. Stay tuned.