PGA Tour players barred from playing, endorsing daily fantasy
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PGA Tour players barred from playing, endorsing daily fantasy

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PGA Tour officials have told their players that they cannot participate in or endorse daily fantasy games.

Golfweek reports the Tour shared its view in a weekly newsletter shared with members, telling players to keep away from the games because they are considered illegal in several states and banned in several others. Playing or endorsing daily fantasy games, the Tour says, would be considered "conduct unbecoming a professional," the Tour's catch-all term for "behavior it doesn't like."

DraftKings and FanDuel, the two companies in the daily fantasy space which control 95 percent of the market, are facing mounting legal challenges to what they claim is their legal carve out created in the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act. Both companies claim fantasy games are exempt from that law, which effectively bans the movement of money to online companies deemed to be involved with gambling.

However, both the states of Nevada and New York have recently declared daily fantasy games to constitute gambling and, thus, barred as construed under their state laws.

Nevada has ordered both companies to obtain a gambling license if they continue to take deposits from customers in the state, effectively leveling the playing field for other online gambling sites that are regulated by the state for its residents to use.

In New York, state attorney general Eric Schneiderman said the companies are running illegal online gambling and filed an injunction this week in New York Supreme Court to ban the companies from operating in the state. FanDuel has since announced it would stop taking deposits from New York customers, which make up a large chunk of their customer base and is the state in which the company is headquartered. DraftKings, based in Boston, continues to take New York deposits.

The FBI and Department of Justice have also launched an investigation into the legality of daily fantasy contests.

NOTE: Golf News Net has a relationship with DraftKings in which GNN has previously received compensation when readers create an account and deposit. On Oct. 6, 2015, GNN decided to suspend that promotion pending the outcome of law-enforcement investigations and improved government regulation of the games and access to data.

About the author

Ryan Ballengee

Ryan Ballengee is the founder, owner and operator of Golf News Net.

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