In poker news, daily fantasy sports firm, Draftkings today announced that it will cut ties with World Series of poker due to the increasing scrutiny of fantasy sports with lawmakers claiming that the sport is unregulated and should be in turn considered as gambling. The fantasy sports company has held a prominent presence in the poker world series advertising realm and has even organized exclusive world series poker events that has seen contestants win free entries into the much anticipated final worldwide poker tournament.
However, of late, the daily fantasy sport industry has been under heavy scrutiny by the gaming regulators and law enforcement officials and it is for this reason that Draftkings is opting to end its partnership with poker world series. In the United States poker is highly regulated and even considered as gambling and maintaining its ties with the sport will tarnish Draftkings brand.
In the past week, Nevada Gaming Control Board issued out a ruling saying that all fantasy sports should be regarded as gambling. This gaming board proceeded to order daily fantasy sports companies FanDuel and Draftkings to shut down their websites and any operations held within Nevada until the firms together with their employees receive certified gambling licenses from the state.
World Series of poker spokesperson, Seth Palansky had this to say about the news, “In light of last week’s news in Nevada, Draftkings asked us to cease any sponsorship activities around the remaining few W.S.O.P events of the year and we complied.”
In fantasy sports, players are allowed to create their own teams of athletes in the online sport and even bet on them. However, gaming regulators are increasing their opposition against online fantasy betting. This is has been the case especially after the fantasy gaming sport companies started offering regular competitions with million dollar prizes up for grabs plus other sports that are closely affiliated with gambling.
In light of Nevada Gaming Control Board ruling last week, Draftkings announced on Thursday that it would no longer offer its contestants free entries to the world poker tournament. Famed fantasy sports player, Max Steinberg, who is one of the nine skilled poker players who will battle it out for the $7.68 million dollar prize at next month’s final poker tournament, got his entry into the event through the Draftkings league at a small entry fee charge of $27. While Steinberg has rocked the firm’s logo since his entry into the world poker tournament, the recent ruling and legal woes faced by the firm has put tensions on their partnership and even broken off their ties.
“This is the result of daily fantasy sports no longer being authorized in Nevada,” said Sabrina Macias, Draftkings spokeswoman.
Draftkings made history as TV’s leading advertiser when it run an advertisement every minute and a half in the few days leading up to the start of the NFL season, reported Isport.tv, a tech firm that tracks all trends in TV advertising. It was after this incidence that the fantasy sporting industry fell under heavy scrutiny with gaming regulators investigating the firm’s employees to see whether they had a role in procuring insider information and possibly exploiting clueless clients.
Daily fantasy sports companies FanDuel and Draftkings which are each valued to be worth over $1billion dollars have since their exception operated under an immunity clause to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, a law that prohibited sports betting and online poker. So far, five states have joined in the Nevada gambling board’s bandwagon but none of course as influential as Nevada itself which has a big stronghold on legal gambling and is the country’s only state that allows sport’s betting.