US: Congress waking up to the unregulated world of fantasy sports

Two New Jersey federal lawmakers on Tuesday asked the Federal Trade Commission to look into setting rules for daily fantasy sports sites.

U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez and U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. asked FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez whether the commission could regulate daily fantasy sports, and if so, to begin establishing rules for their operation.

“We believe that fantasy sports should be legal and subject to appropriate consumer and competitive protections,” Menendez and Pallone wrote. “Consumers also expect companies to hold online contests in a fair, transparent manner.”

Fantasy sports was exempted when Congress in 2006 voted to ban online gambling. The Justice Department in 2011 ruled that states could offer Internet gambling to their residents, and New Jersey was one of three states that took advantage of the opportunity.

Menendez and Pallone said their letter was spurred by reports that employees of two daily fantasy sports sites, FanDuel and DraftKings, used nonpublic information to enter each other’s contests. They likened it to insider trading of stocks.

Full content: The Wall Street Journal

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