The football season may be over, but the fight over the legality of fantasy football is just heating up in the Texas legislature.
A bill filed by State Rep Richard Peña Raymond (D-Laredo) would tweak the state's gambling laws to allow daily fantasy sites like Fan Duel and Draft Kings, calling them games of skill.
It already has the backing of the Fantasy Sports Trade Association
"There are a lot of misconceptions from people who don’t know what daily fantasy sports are. They think it's like slots or a game of chance," Chairman Peter Schoenke.
The type of fantasy sports gambling described in HB 1457 is far from the wagers made by friends, who often play in leagues for years, selecting a team of players at the beginning of the year and competing head-to-head on a weekly bases to see who amasses the most points.
In this new breed of fantasy games, players select a new team each week, play mostly against strangers, and generally win by choosing a team of underrated players that over-perform.
Schoenke says that takes skill.
"I think when lawmakers in Texas sit down and take a look at how much homework it takes to be competitive in these games, and how many fans there are and how seriously they take it, then I think they start to realize that it's something we need to legalize and add consumer protections to," he explains.
Raymond's bill has protections to prevent insider information trading, which led to scandals in 2015. An employee at Draft Kings used insider player metrics to win in excess of $300,000 at rival site Fan Duel.
But the bill faces an uphill battle against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton who, last year, issued an opinion that daily fantasy sites amounted to illegal gambling. He cited the entry fees.
“Simply put, it is prohibited gambling in Texas if you bet on the performance of a participant in a sporting event and the house takes a cut,” Paxton said.
IMAGE; GETTY