NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said Tuesday that league ownership remains opposed to legalized sports betting because of integrity concerns, while also acknowledging that the regulatory framework in Nevada’s legal sports betting market could be “beneficial” when it comes to the Raiders eventually playing in Las Vegas. Owners voted 31-1 to approve the Raiders’ move from Oakland to Las Vegas, but Goodell said having a franchise located in the home of the largest legal sports betting market in the United States will not change the league’s stance on gambling. “I think we still strongly oppose [among ownership] legalized sports gambling,” Goodell…

US daily fantasy sports site DraftKings officially went live with a beta version in Germany on Thursday. Earlier this year, DraftKings announced it would be going live in Germany during Q1, thanks to a new skill-games license acquired in Malta. (Fantasy soccer site Oulala is the only other company known to have acquired this license.) The full suite of DraftKings fantasy contests will be available to the German population… “Germany is known for its passionate sports fans and we are pleased to welcome them to daily fantasy sports,” DraftKings Chief International Officer Jeffrey Haas said in a press release upon…

In mid-November 2016 the two largest daily fantasy football companies, DraftKings & FanDuel, announced a merger of equals. The thinking was that instead of pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into continuing to fight each other, they could fight legal and political battles together & continue to expand. When the news broke, ReCode quoted “the merger still needs to pass regulatory approval, but it’s hard to imagine that will be a problem.” So why haven’t we heard anything substantial since then? Why have almost four months gone by with no news of a confirmed merger? A period of silence of…

The daily fantasy sports industry apparently will not be getting the legal clarity and regulation it desires in the Bluegrass State, at least for now. The bill there — H 414 — sought to establish a legal footing for paid-entry fantasy sports and regulation of companies offering them, like the biggest DFS operators, DraftKings and FanDuel. The bill actually garnered a majority of votes in the House — with a 37-36 margin. However, the bill did not reach the 40-vote threshold required to advance to the state Senate. (A bill must be approved by two-fifths of the 100 members in…

The Mississippi Legislature, struggling for ways to fund state government in the midst of sluggish revenue collections, should have at least a little help on the way. On Wednesday, the 52-member Senate approved with six no votes and sent to Gov. Phil Bryant legislation regulating and taxing fantasy sports. If Bryant signs the legislation into law, it will mean a new source of revenue for the state. House Gaming Chair Richard Bennett, R-Long Beach, said he does not expect fantasy sports to generate a lot of revenue for the state, but, “I think it will grow.” Fantasy sports is generally…

After three months of speculation that Sheldon Adelson might back out of the Raiders’ stadium deal in Las Vegas, the casino billionaire finally made the move Monday and officially cut all ties with the team. In a statement to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Adelson said that his family “will no longer be involved in any facet of the stadium discussion.” In October, Adelson had threatened to pull out of the deal because he didn’t like the terms that the Raiders were offering. “They want so much,” Adelson said at the time. “So I told my people, ‘Tell them I could…

While the daily fantasy industry continues to push for legal clarity in the United States, its largest operator is preparing to expand its international footprint. In the first weeks of 2017, 11 states — Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon and Washington — have introduced legislation aimed at regulating fantasy sports. Lobbying efforts are ongoing in more than a dozen additional states. But, for now, only 21.4 percent of the U.S. population lives in a state where daily fantasy is regulated, according to a research study by industry trade publication GamblingCompliance. Meanwhile, daily fantasy…

New Jersey has taken a step closer to legalising daily fantasy sports (DFS) after a state Assembly committee cleared a bill that would regulate the industry. The proposed legislation sets out rules to charge DFS companies a fee of 10.5% on gross revenue in order to legally operate in the US state. Although the exact amount that the state would collect under this structure is unclear, the NorthJersey.com website said Chris Grimm, a consultant for DFS firms DraftKings and FanDuel, estimated the figure at approximately $1 million (€933,532) each year. More at iGaming Business