Is the Patriots’ New Fantasy Sports Lounge a Gaming Venue?
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
For fans attending the Patriots’ home games, they will now have the opportunity to catch the live action in front of them while following their fantasy team in the new DraftKings.com Fantasy Sports Zone located in the south end zone of the stadium complete with multiple screens with live updates on fantasy players.
The new Sports Zone is a lounge located in the 100-level concourse that will feature a bar area and multiple television screens that will allow fans direct interaction with their fantasy football teams on Draftkings.com.
DraftKings and their competitor Fan Duels are ventured back companies play for the big time in sports betting. One DraftKings game promises a $10 million payout - “Enter the $10MM NFL Millionaire Maker with a $2MM top prize, the biggest fantasy football contest of all time.”
Does the DraftKings Sports Zone Violate State Gaming Law?
GoLocalWorcester asked Massachusetts Gaming Commission Director of Communications Elaine Driscoll if active gaming in the DraftKings lounge violates any Massachusetts law.
Driscoll said, “I think that is beyond our scope. I think the gaming statute is pretty specific about what falls under our purview. And that’s casino licenses and slots.”
Furthermore, by Massachusetts law, a “game” is defined as “a banking or percentage game played with cards, dice, tiles, dominoes or an electronic, electrical or mechanical device or machine played for money, property, checks, credit or any other representative of value which has been approved by the commission” and gaming is “dealing, operating, carrying on, conducting, maintaining or exposing any game for pay.”
NFL is Ahead of the Game
In other words, one could argue that the DraftKings lounge itself could be considered a gaming establishment due to the fact that people are playing a game for money and using a provided device.
However, due to the U.S. government’s 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act which stipulated that fantasy sports were legal, the New England Patriots and NFL are allowed to promote sites such as DraftKings throughout their stadium.
In an email to GoLocalWorcester, NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy briefly stated that the DraftKings lounge at Gillette “isn’t an issue” and that all 32 NFL teams have the opportunity to have such an area in their stadiums.
In 2012, the NFL decided to allow teams to sell limited advertising space in their stadiums to casinos. Last season, the league loosened those limitations even more to expand casino advertising. The Detroit Lions went so far as to have a casino sponsor a lounge for fans.
DraftKings and the NFL
“The New England Patriots are proud to partner with DraftKings, a Boston-based business that is the largest daily fantasy sports company in the country,” said Murray Kohl, vice president of corporate sales for the New England Patriots, in a released statement. “Many of our fans in the stadium are playing daily fantasy sports and we want to provide them with the most up to date information.”
One reason that major sports organizations are in full support of, and aligning themselves with, fantasy sports sites are because of the revenue the game brings in.
The fantasy sports industry is worth $3-$4 billion annually - with consistent growth from year-to-year.
In a released statement, Paul Liberman, CMO and co-founder of DraftKings said, “DraftKings is incredibly proud to associate ourselves with the New England Patriots, one of the league’s most successful franchises, right here in our backyard. The Patriots are one of the league’s model franchises and we are pleased to align ourselves with them. We look forward to bringing the excitement of daily fantasy sports into the game-day experience.”
For those that don’t play fantasy football, DraftKings.com offers daily and weekly contests for cash prizes in all major sports including NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL and PGA. DraftKings also hosts contests for college basketball and football.
DraftKings a Legal Game of Skill
However, participants under the age of 18 (19 in Nebraska and Alabama) are not allowed to play - the same minimum age allowed to gamble in nearly every state in the U.S.
According to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association, sites likes DraftKings.com and FanDuel.com are legal because gamers have to possess skill to account for statistics, facts and game theory, the U.S. government’s 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act stipulated that fantasy sports were legal, organizations such as the NFL and MLB support fantasy sports while strictly enforcing rules against illegal gambling, and that fantasy sports players behave differently than other gamblers and participate in fantasy sports for reasons other than money.
Following an all-time high of NFL gambling in the United Kingdom in 2014 (a 100 percent increase of betting on games played in UK compared to U.S.), DraftKings.com has recently decided to go international and has recently received a license to operate United Kingdom Gambling Commission.
Videowall Image: "Gillette Stadium, Foxboro, Massachusetts 2011" - James Wellman/Flickr
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