FANTASY FOOTBALL
As the calendar turns to September, and the summer is soon coming to an end, many of us enjoy celebrating the great American game of football. As the first games kick off over the course of this weekend, many of us are drafting a fantasy football team or have recently drafted a fantasy football team. If you are one of those people, I hope you got players you want and your team is a source of competitive enjoyment in the upcoming
football season.
Personally, fantasy football has been a passion of mine for over thirty years. The challenge of putting together a team and the competitive nature of seeing that team succeed make football more enjoyable for me, and I'm sure for the many people who play these games.In recent years, there has been a subset of fantasy football called "daily fantasy", where one can participate in a fantasy football league for a weekend or a given day. As a passionate football fan and active fantasy football enthusiast, I once enjoyed the opportunity to play these daily fantasy games. However, in the State of Nevada, there was an opinion issued by the former attorney general that daily fantasy sports consisted of gambling, and was required to be licensed under the State's gaming licensing laws. These laws are built to license, oversee and tax operators of Nevada casinos, and do not fit very well with the major operators of online daily fantasy games.
In 2015, when this opinion was issued, Nevada had about 11,000 people who regularly participated in daily fantasy sports contests. Since the issuance of this opinion demanding that daily fantasy sports operators get a gaming license, all of the major national operators of daily fantasy sports no longer accept entries from Nevada residents.
In a state that is known for being the first to legalize gaming, it is beyond me how an onerous licensing process has basically vacated an entire market that thousands of Nevadans once enjoyed. I am hopeful that the day comes in the not too distant future where Nevadas football fans can once again participate in daily fantasy sports contests. Should I be elected to the legislature, I am hopeful for the opportunity to make progress on seeing daily fantasy games re-established in Nevada.