Bills To Regulate DFS In Florida Nixed By Legislature For 2021

• Florida’s Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) bills are dead for 2021.
• The proposals to regulate DFS in the Sunshine State required too much editing of the drafts to be done within the special session that is currently in progress.
• DFS players will have to wait until the 2022 session for better legislation to be considered by the Florida Legislature.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida Legislature is focused on regulating sports betting during their special session this week, leaving no time for proposals to regulate Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS).

Legislation that was previously approved by the Senate has since been placed on the backburner, which ultimately means they’re dead for the 2021 session.

Senate Bill 16A and its companion bill, House Bill 9A to regulate a DFS market in Florida were both passed in their respective committees on Monday, only to die on Tuesday as they will not be receiving any further consideration this year.

What Went Wrong?

It’s true that regulated sports wagering is the main topic this week, but DFS was still very much being considered. However, a special session is atypical and always very short.

The way the two bills are written would require an ample amount of change, lawmakers have said. At the present time, the framework it sets up for the DFS industry may be problematic when it comes time to implement the market.

There are restrictions on the types of contests and how many entries a player can participate in. That would require a lot of special time put toward ensuring that each operator is overseeing that these particular rules are met.

And because it will all vary by the contest and keeping tabs on each individual members’ entries, this may be too much for each operator to do. Presently, DFS is enjoyed by more than 3 million Floridians using outside sources.

Other proposals that were open required too much money upfront from operators. This would have the market be less appealing as there would be less room for profit by potential platforms to want to open up their businesses in Florida.

In the end, there was just too much pushback by lawmakers and operators when it came to how all bills regarding DFS regulations were written. This is a subject that will need to be given more consideration in 2022.

For now, it looks like Florida sports betting is what will be passed in the special session of the Florida Legislature in 2021 and the Sunshine State is just fine with that progress.

News tags: DFS | Florida | Florida Legislature | House Bill 9A | Senate Bill 16A