Texas Bringing Back The Possibility Of Legal Daily Fantasy Sports

• HB 2303 would legalize daily fantasy sports in Texas.
• Bill author Joseph Moody hopes this will help to modernize state laws.
• The House will review the bill within the next few days.

AUSTIN, Texas – After being introduced in the House in early March, the bill that would decriminalize daily fantasy sports in Texas has been placed on the general state calendar.

Reported back with a favorable opinion from both a public hearing and the House’s Licensing and Administrative Procedures Committee. HB 2303 will be discussed further.

The measure was authored by Representative Joseph Moody (D- El Paso) and includes bipartisan support within its four joint authors.

Stationed to make the claim that daily fantasy sports are not a game of chance but rather a game of skill, Moody hopes that legislators agree that those who participate should not be considered lawbreakers.

“No one should be subject to arrest and prosecution because they played a game,” stated Moody.

Under the provisions of the “narrowly written bill”, daily fantasy contests would be permitted on both professional and collegiate events and whether the contest is paid or free will have no bearing on its legality.

Moody continued to explain that this proposal is not an attempt to bring legal sports betting to Texas, instead, he wants it to focus solely on DFS.

His hope is that it “will protect good people from being senselessly branded as criminals.”

The Texas Fantasy Sports Alliance has Moody’s back, who released a statement in support of HB 2303.

“Representative Moody has been a leader for advancing… this growing industry to thrive in Texas. We look forward to continued progress in the Texas Legislature to protect fantasy sports players and Texas-based businesses supporting this industry,” said Texas Fantasy Sports Alliance spokesperson, Scott Dunaway.

This isn’t the first attempt to bring legal DFS into Texas, as the 2017 legislative session saw HB 1457 filed and discussed. However, the 2017 pitch didn’t make much headway, even with the fantasy sites giving $485,000 to Texas lobbyists at the time.

Assuming the bill moves out of the House this time, it will still need to be considered in the Senate. Upon a favorable opinion from both parties and the governor’s signature to solidify the bill into law, the act would take effect in September of this year.

News tags: DFS | Texas | TX HB 2303