Louisiana DFS Operators Can Now Apply For A License

• After a more than a two-year wait, Louisiana is now accepting applications for daily fantasy sports (DFS).
• The approval process takes between 60 and 90 days.
• The 17 parishes that voted against DFS will be blocked from access.

BATON ROUGE, La. – Daily fantasy sports (DFS) will launch in Louisiana soon as the Pelican State has opened the application process for operators.

The process is set to take between 60 and 90 days as the Louisiana Gaming Control Board reviews each application.

Louisiana approved legal daily fantasy sports in 2018, but took years to work out the regulations. Now players in the Pelican State will be able to win big daily.

DFS in Louisiana

The interesting thing about DFS games in Louisiana is that they will not be state-wide on launch. Instead, the 17 parishes that voted against the launch of DFS will not have access.

DFS will be geofenced to the parishes that voted in favor as the Pelican State approved the practice via a parish-by-parish basis.

“They’re going to be, for lack of a better word, geofencing along parish lines, whether it be the parishes who opted out are blocked out, or the parishes that opted in are blocked in,” said Chuck McNeal of the Louisiana State Police Gaming Enforcement Division. “They’re going to have to demonstrate that to us, and then they’re going to have to go to one of the state-approved regulatory gaming labs and prove to them also that it is not allowed to be played in the parishes that opted out. We will also be periodically monitoring that and make sure it is operating the way it is supposed to.”

The geofencing system will be similar the how states lock their mobile sports betting operations. With mobile betting, players are only able to legally access the sportsbook in the state.

For example, mobile betting in New Jersey can only work in the state. Once players cross the bridge to New York, they will not have access to the mobile sportsbook.

This is how Louisiana plans to operate its DFS and eventual legal sports betting operations. DFS will be available in the 47 parishes that approved fantasy gaming.

Fantasy sports in Louisiana will see an entry fee for players who will then be able to host their own rosters and compete with others to win real money. The age requirement will be 21 and there will be an 8% tax on revenue to the state.

An official launch date has not yet been set, but operators being able to send in applications shows that the Pelican State is only a few months away from launching the market.

“Once the state police begin receiving applications, it’s probably a couple of months at least because to go through the applications, there’s a number of technical requirements that have to be met,” said Mike Noel, chairman of the Louisiana Gaming Control Board. “I anticipate that will take a few months.”

Once DFS launches, lawmakers could then shift their focus to the Louisiana sports betting regulations.

News tags: Baton Rouge | Chuck McNeal | Daily Fantasy Sports | DFS | Louisiana | Louisiana Gaming Control Board | Mike Noel