Add Georgia to a mounting list of states that have formally questioned whether daily fantasy sports companies are operating within the law.
Following the lead of Nevada, which last week banned companies such as DraftKings and FanDuel from the state until they obtain a gambling license, Georgia regulators have begun inquiries of their own to assess how the multibillion-dollar fantasy sports industry fits within its more stringent restrictions.
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Officials sent letters of inquiry to DraftKings and FanDuel last month. But Joseph Kim, general counsel of the state's lottery, told The Associated Press neither company responded by an Oct. 16 deadline, and the state is considering its next action.
Georgia law generally restricts gambling of any kind with the exception of state-run lottery games.
In recent weeks, more than half a dozen states and government agencies have called into question daily fantasy business practices after a DraftKings employee published internal data the same weekend he won $350,000 in a FanDuel contest, prompting questions over insider trading. DraftKings announced Monday that an investigation into the scandal found no such evidence.
Agencies in Florida and New York were the first to open investigations into the companies earlier this month, and the FBI soon followed.
Lawmakers in Delaware, which already allows parlay bets on NFL games, Illinois, Michigan, Mississippi, California, Pennsylvania and Ohio also have discussed reforms that would impact daily fantasy sports.
Fantasy sports companies for years have operated under a loophole in a 2006 federal law against sports betting, arguing the contests are games of skill and not luck. But Nevada's ruling, the first to classify daily fantasy games as gambling, was the most impactful yet and could serve as precedent for other states.
DraftKings denied receiving a letter from Georgia's lottery department, according to the AP report. FanDuel did not respond to a request for comment.
Disclosure: Sporting News has its own relationship with daily fantasy sports site FanDuel and regularly creates content around its games.
