Louisiana Finally Opens Applications For Daily Fantasy Sports

It has been over two years since Lousiana legalized daily fantasy sports. One issue that did arise is the fact that 17 parishes, what Lousiana calls their counties, within the state did not vote to legalize daily fantasy competitions. Due to this, there will have to be strict geolocation in place so that playing daily fantasy is not accidentally allowed in those parishes.

Open Applications

It has been years of debate on the rules for daily fantasy contests within the State of Lousiana. The state finally decided on an 8% tax for daily fantasy and for the State Police Gaming to oversee and regulate the business.

As of Monday, February 22nd, the Louisiana State Police Gaming Enforcement Division opened up its doors for applications. These applications must be submitted by mail, and it could take several months for them to be approved.

While many companies already have geolocation and geofencing technology in place, Louisiana will want to check to make sure that it is strict enough to make sure each parish within the state that does not allow for sports betting is truly secure.

Will Companies Apply?

Daily fantasy companies DraftKings and FanDuel have a multitude of reasons to want to join in on the state’s daily fantasy competition. The first is the fact that since it already holds geolocation technology for its sports betting platforms, that should not be a worry with the parish geofencing debacle. There likely will not have to be many upgrades to this technology as it has been approved for lining state borders in several states where the two operate sportsbooks.

Another massive reason for them to apply is their sportsbooks. Louisiana recently legalized sports betting in 55 of its parishes. While sports betting is probably a long way away from launching, as we have seen how long it took to get simple fantasy competitions live, the two will want to establish their brands in the Bayou State.

However, these are only two major daily fantasy sites. It is very likely that many other sites and platforms will see Lousiana as too complicated of a state. The government has been inefficient at getting things done and is probably requiring rigorous technology tests due to the parishes that still do not have legal daily fantasy competitions.

Where Can You Play Daily Fantasy?

Currently, only Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana, Montana, Nevada, and Washington do not allow for daily fantasy contests. As we have seen, Lousiana will finally be allowing them once a platform is approved for launch. We have also seen new legislation enter the Arizona legislature that would allow for daily fantasy competitions.

This is a rather widely accepted form of prize contest gaming, and it is very odd to see that Lousiana needed two years to come up with the simple rules that it settled on. Only time will tell if this has deterred the broader daily fantasy market from even wanting to deal with Lousiana as its market is not massive, and 17 parishes cannot even play at this point.