Does congressional research paper herald a DFS hearing this year?
News on 12 Jan 2016
News on 12 Jan 2016
An ESPN report speculates this week on whether a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report on daily fantasy sports completed late in December may herald Congressional hearings on the controversial gambling genre this year,
The ESPN report is based on a Chalk story that it has seen a copy of the report titled “You Win Some, You Lose Some: The Complicated Legal Status of Daily Fantasy Sports,” a single-spaced, two-page report dated December 18, 2015.
The report apparently notes the interest around the legality of the daily fantasy sports phenomenon and provides an overview of various issues, but draws no legal conclusions, nor does it make recommendations as to further action by Congress or any federal agency.
As the in-house research arm of Congress, the CRS provides non-partisan analysis on a confidential basis upon request or of its own volition. Members of Congress have access to most CRS reports.
ESPN notes that the possibility of a DFS-focused Congressional hearing has been percolating for months, and that Representative Fred Upton, chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee has previously said a fantasy-related hearing is likely this year.
“The topics covered in the CRS report are similar to the topics addressed in two legal opinion letters prepared for DFS companies — one dated March 22, 2013 and another dated Nov. 10, 2014 — made public during the on-going New York AG litigation,” ESPN advises.
“States have traditionally handled regulation of gambling, supported by federal law in situations where an interstate or foreign element might otherwise frustrate the enforcement of state law,” the CRS report observed. “With respect to federal law, DFS may implicate at least four gambling-related statutes.”
The CRS document advises that a number of members of Congress have called for formal hearings and have recommended regulatory oversight of DFS, and notes the attempts by New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez and New Jersey Representative Frank Pallone to involve the Federal Trade Commission.
