New York DFS bill due soon; OKC crashes party; FanDuel auditors express concern

Twice weekly, we’ll comb through as many articles, tweets and podcasts as we can find related to the world of sports betting and daily fantasy sports, and publish the good stuff here. 

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Assemblyman Gary Pretlow said the daily fantasy sports bill that would legalize and regulate in the industry in New York should be unveiled this week.

If the bill is being vetted behind closed doors, we could see a fast turnaround on the bill, in which it would quickly see committee votes and passage by the Assembly and/or Senate. Of course, any action would have to happen relatively quickly — the legislature adjourns June 16.

Numerous sources — from inside and outside of the DFS industry — have expressed optimism to Legal Sports Report that a fantasy sports bill will become law in New York.


The Oklahoma City Thunder upset the Spurs to advance to the NBA Conference Finals. Before the series bgan, some bettors have moved the line toward the Thunder in their series against the Warriors. The Thunder won Game 1 at Golden State, 108-102.

Many of the bettors who rode shotgun with the Warriors all season are starting to second-guess the 73-win defending champions. Golden State opened as a minus-420 series favorite over Oklahoma City, and the price was raised to minus-550 before Sherman lowered it to minus-380 Sunday night.

“Now, everyone is betting the Thunder,” Sherman said. “I think a lot of people are respecting their win against San Antonio.”

“I can’t imagine a scenario where the Raptors would beat the Cavs four out of seven unless LeBron is hurt,” Sherman said. “I just don’t see it.

“Going way back to the end of 2015, we said there were 3½ teams that could win it, and Oklahoma City was the half.”


FanDuel auditors said the company’s future could be in doubt if more states classify daily fantasy sports as illegal sports betting.

Specifically, Deloitte senior statutory authority James Boyle warned that the prospect of more states shutting off the DFS taps “represents a material uncertainty that casts significant doubt upon [FanDuel’s] ability to continue as a going concern.”


An industry analyst suggested that online gambling won’t take off in the United States without a “united stand among the stakeholders.”

Grove pointed out that one of the challenges for the online gambling industry to really take off in the United States is the fact that it doesn’t have a broader base of support among operators, especially when it comes to gambling regulation.

“I think right now, you have a divided casino industry. Even commercial stakeholders that should have the most incentive to make this happen isn’t fully behind it. And you really haven’t seen anyone outside that very limited population starting to come out to support of regulate online gambling, regulate online casino and online poker,” Grove told CalvinAyre.com

In contrast with the online gambling, Grove said the daily fantasy sports (DFS) is seeing success in the United States due to the fact that it has a “deep and wide bench of political support.”


76erslogo

The Philadelphia 76ers became the first team in the NBA (or any of the four major U.S. sports) to sell advertising space on their jerseys.

The 76ers announced Monday morning that ticket company StubHub will have its logo on the team’s jerseys beginning in the 2017-18 season, when the NBA’s three-year pilot program will start.

Sources with knowledge of the deal say the team has sold all three seasons at $5 million a year, with the option to extend the contract with StubHub should the league continue to allow the 2½-by-2½-inch logo patch to be on the jerseys in the future.