North Carolina's Struggle: Will Fantasy Sports Companies Operate?
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - All right, let's go over to the DFS companies
00:07 that are getting booted all over the country.
00:09 The latest is in North Carolina.
00:11 And, you know, Pat, I understand their claims.
00:14 They all wanna stick around,
00:16 but one state after the next
00:18 are finding these daily fantasy companies
00:20 very similar to sports wagering.
00:22 At least that's what's being claimed.
00:23 And they're finding themselves
00:24 not being able to do business.
00:26 But North Carolina basically hold the phone here
00:29 because it looks like they wanna fight a little bit
00:31 and say, "Hey, we're not the same."
00:33 - Yeah, so, you know,
00:34 we're watching the North Carolina regulators
00:37 get their framework in line for a launch early next year.
00:42 And right away in their regulations,
00:44 they straight up said,
00:46 "The Pick'Em Contests do not fit our definition
00:49 of daily fantasy sports.
00:50 So you will have to not operate here."
00:53 Right now, those regulations,
00:54 which were announced last month as a draft,
00:57 are in a public comment period.
00:59 Actually, that period ends today.
01:00 So I guess we'll know a little bit more next week.
01:03 And the public hearing was this week
01:08 and the DFS companies were the only two draft,
01:13 excuse me, PrizePicks and Underdog
01:15 were the only two companies represented
01:17 during this public hearing.
01:19 And they said, "You know what?
01:21 Back in the legislative period last year,
01:24 or earlier this year,
01:25 they were talking to the representatives
01:29 and legislators who put together the sports betting law
01:32 and said, "We were kind of promised
01:34 that we would be allowed to operate in North Carolina
01:37 under these rules.
01:38 And now you're going back and saying, 'This is impossible.'"
01:41 And so they're trying to, you know,
01:44 get included as you would expect for them to do.
01:47 And we'll see how that works.
01:50 You know, I don't know if the North Carolina regulators
01:54 are paying attention to the states like Maine and Wyoming
01:57 and Florida and Michigan and New York.
02:00 And as you mentioned, the states are growing
02:03 that are finding these pick 'em games
02:05 a little similar to sports betting
02:07 and they're not liking that.
02:08 So yeah, they're not exactly happy
02:11 with North Carolina right now.
02:12 And we'll see soon what the final rules
02:15 are gonna look like.
02:16 I think there's a November 16th meeting in North Carolina
02:19 that will kind of say this is what they are.
02:21 And we'll know at that point
02:23 whether these pick 'em contests will be allowed for sure
02:26 next year when sports betting goes live.
02:29 And yeah, this is just starting to happen
02:31 more and more places across the country.
02:33 A big story in the industry to keep an eye on.
02:37 (upbeat music)
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