Texas DFS Bill Reintroduced. Will It Be Made Law This Time?

• Texas Rep. Joe Moody has written HB 393 which would legalize Daily Fantasy Sports in Texas.
• DraftKings and FanDuel already accept DFS players that reside in Texas.
• If HB 393 were to pass through the Texas legislature, it would go into effect on September 1, 2021.

DALLAS – Texas Representative (D) Joe Moody who represents District 78 in the state has proposed HB 393 aiming to define daily fantasy sports as a game of skill.

If passed,  HB 393 would make it legal for players to win prizes on DFS contests without the fear of prosecution.

In the bill, Moody outlines the distinct differences between Daily Fantasy Sports and traditional sports betting. Moody defining DFS as a game of skill would help clear up any gray area in Texas law regarding Daily Fantasy Sports. While this may help the bill get passed in the Texas House it doesn’t signal that legal sports betting will be coming into the state any time soon.

If HB 393 is passed by Texas legislatures it would go into effect on September 1, 2021.

This also isn’t the first time Daily Fantasy Sports has been the subject of a bill in Texas in 2019.

HB 2303 was passed by the Texas House by a vote of 116-26. Although the bill was never brought forward in the Texas Senate, knowing it passed through the House by a wide margin is a silver lining.

Some Texans have already dabbled into the Daily Fantasy Sports world as both DraftKings and FanDuel have been accepting players from the Lone Star State.

While there hasn’t been a single Texas resident prosecuted for playing DFS, without HB 393, those Texans could still face prosecution at the discretion of individual prosecutors in the state.

HB 393 would place the necessary protections for Texas residents playing in daily fantasy games under law. The bill does nothing to bring in tax revenue for the state of Texas and that could be one of the driving factors as to why previous attempts to pass some form of this bill have failed.

While HB 393 doesn’t make sports betting in Texas legal, it does show a push by lawmakers to protect constituents that want to participate in alternate sports betting contests.

News tags: Daily Fantasy Sports | DraftKings | FanDuel | HB 393 | Joe Moody | Texas