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00:02 >> Well, let's start off here because this is a story I think that's near and
00:07 dear to a lot of people out there who started off in their first foray of
00:12 daily fantasy using maybe FanDuel or DraftKings playing the daily fantasy games,
00:16 people like myself.
00:17 And then of course, sports betting became legal, so
00:20 there was a lot more scrutiny just on games themselves.
00:23 And companies that started based on fantasy like PrizePix and
00:28 Underdog are sort of finding themselves under some heat here.
00:31 Because some of the regulators in different states feel that these are not
00:36 games of chance, essentially.
00:37 These are games that are sports betting and individual prop betting.
00:42 So what's going on here in the state of Wyoming?
00:44 I know they've been looking into it.
00:45 >> Yeah, Craig, as you mentioned, DraftKings and
00:50 FanDuel kind of got the whole daily fantasy sports wave started in the US
00:56 with a lot of these one day best ball kind of tournaments where you draft
01:01 a bunch of different athletes and kind of compete against others to win prizes.
01:07 And PrizePix and Underdog have kind of come in.
01:10 They both do that fantasy model where it's the drafting.
01:14 But they also have this other product which DraftKings and FanDuel don't have.
01:19 It's this kind of pick them, parlay thing where you're essentially taking
01:23 a bunch of different player props and picking the over or under on them.
01:27 It's sort of the operate through this kind of caveat in this older
01:32 daily fantasy sports law that says sort of as long as you combine two or
01:36 more players, it's technically not sports betting.
01:41 Now, DraftKings and FanDuel don't do this because they have this sort of
01:45 the same product on their sports books.
01:47 A lot of these companies are operating in states without sports betting,
01:51 sort of offering kind of the sports betting adjacent product to people who
01:55 are interested in wagering on player props.
01:58 But lately, there's been a lot of noise from state regulators coming out saying,
02:03 hey, we actually consider this sports betting.
02:06 And what you had in Wyoming a little earlier this summer were two cease and
02:10 desist letters sent to both companies saying you are essentially sports betting.
02:15 You're operating without a sports betting license.
02:17 Unless you get one, you have to leave the state.
02:20 But it's really unclear what's going on in Wyoming ever since that happened.
02:24 Both companies had a deadline of last Friday to get back to the regulators and
02:28 tell them what their plans were.
02:30 So both companies told me that they are now talking to regulators and
02:34 working with them on a solution.
02:36 They have some meetings set up.
02:37 But the language of the letter sort of suggests that they have to leave
02:41 immediately and deems it is sports betting.
02:44 And then another spot says it may be sports betting.
02:47 It's been really hard to get a hold of Wyoming regulators.
02:51 They've been basically radio silent for
02:52 the past couple of months on this ever since the letters leaked.
02:56 So it's not exactly clear what the course of action is here.
02:59 Both companies are still operating in Wyoming.
03:02 And meanwhile, a bunch of other states are looking at the same thing.
03:05 You had New York, Michigan, Maine, all come out with these kind of rules or
03:09 interpretations of the law, which says that these daily fantasy contests,
03:14 where it's the player versus the house, you're betting maybe $10 to win
03:19 a $60 return on some sort of parlay with player props, is sports betting.
03:23 So I think this is something we're gonna see continue to spread,
03:27 going into football season, big time for these companies,
03:29 a big time for their competitors, the sports books who obviously are kind of
03:33 tired of these companies operating without the same fees,
03:36 taxes as sports books themselves are, cuz those are highly regulated.
03:42 Whether or not that's legal, it's not up for me to decide.
03:44 It seems like a bunch of different states are kind of differing on their opinions
03:47 here, but it seems like something is gonna happen eventually.
03:51 Whether that's soon, we don't know.
03:52 Whether that's football season, it could be whenever.
03:55 But it's definitely something to keep your eye out for as the year goes on.
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