Daily Fantasy Sports in Alabama is Illegal

It is clarified that daily fantasy sports in Alabama is illegal as the state Attorney General Luther Strange announced earlier. Letters containing information about terminating operation, were sent to the companies including the deadline, 1 May. So Alabama is not the sweet home of daily fantasy sports.

Until the given deadline, DraftKings and FanDuel should stop their activity in the ‘Cotton State’. In case the operators fail to comply with the new rules, it can result in the loss of revenues.

The attorney general said, his office reviewed the state laws related to gambling and issued ‘cease and desist‘ letters. In the recently announced statement other operators beside FanDuel and DraftKings were not mentioned. Despite the decision, operators still consider their activity legal, under Alabama state law. However, Strange established in a press release that paid daily fantasy sports contest in Alabama is illegal under the current laws.

As he stated, players in fantasy sports have no control over the results of the contest which means the game depends on chance instead of skill. According to his statement, if chance is involved in a game that can constitute illegal gambling in Alabama. The ‘Cotton State’ became the 12th US state where daily fantasy sports is declared illegal.

Background Story of the Illegal Daily Fantasy Sports in Alabama

Back in November, there was a federal lawsuit filed against DraftKings and FanDuel due to illegal gambling. Two men launched a legal attack and hoped to regain the money they lost by using the popular sites. The lawsuit against the two operators must not have favorable impact on the final decision.

As a report published on Al.com detailed, the two men not only hoped to get their money back but also wanted to gain class-action status. With that they meant to represent all the Alabamians who have lost money on daily fantasy sports websites.

It seems the predicted legalization trend has stopped somewhere in Massachusetts. That was the third state where the first steps of daily fantasy sports legalization were made. Virginia and Indiana have also joined the legal side, however they still have some conditions to adhere to.  Regardless of these, at least these states don’t have to take part in legal debates related their activity.