BOSTON (AP) – The state’s treasurer says she’s exploring whether the Massachusetts Lottery should enter the lucrative online world of fantasy sports leagues.
Democratic Treasurer Deb Goldberg said Wednesday she is trying to understand how online fantasy sports websites operate but is concerned their rocketing popularity could pose a threat to the lottery.
“It’s really my responsibility as head of the lottery commission to be thinking about what is the competitive environment that we’re operating in,” Goldberg said in her Statehouse office Wednesday.
Goldberg said she was largely unaware of online fantasy football and other online sports games until she attended a recent Boston Red Sox game and saw ads for DraftKings, which is based in Boston. She said she is in the early stages of studying the issue.
“We are literally researching how does this operate, who does this reach, what is it,” She said. “Even the definition isn’t clear.”
Daily fantasy sports participants put together virtual teams based on real players and compete for points based on the players’ statistics. Paid contests cost as little as $1 to enter, but some players wager tens of thousands of dollars on each matchup.
Leading fantasy sports websites DraftKings and FanDuel are being investigated by New York’s attorney general following media reports a DraftKings employee may have had access to unfairly valuable data before winning $350,000 in a FanDuel contest. DraftKings and FanDuel, which is based in New York, have said nothing is more important to them than the integrity of the games they offer.
Goldberg said any expansion into online fantasy sports would require legislative approval. She also noted that profits from the lottery go back to the cities and towns in the form of local aid, as would any profits from state-run fantasy sports games.
Democratic state Attorney General Maura Healey is reviewing DraftKings. Healey said last month she wants to collect more information about the industry and the company, which allows fans to play daily fantasy sports for cash prizes.
A spokeswoman for the company said last month its executives are happy to work with Healey to answer any of her questions.
Republican Gov. Charlie Baker said on Boston Herald Radio that Goldberg should focus on the lottery. He also said he was skeptical about the idea of the lottery running fantasy sports games.
“The lottery has a fundamental purpose and a defined role, and it has been reasonably successful at doing that,” he said Wednesday.
Goldberg said the lottery commission’s fundamental role will continue to be running a healthy lottery.
Baker also said he doesn’t think “anybody ought to do anything until after the attorney general makes some decisions on that.”
Traditional sports betting is barred outside a handful of states, but daily fantasy sports are allowed in most of the country.
Defenders of daily fantasy sports point to a 2006 federal law that carved out an exemption for “fantasy sports” well before the idea of daily games was contemplated.
DraftKings boasts daily leagues for fantasy football, baseball, basketball, hockey, golf, NASCAR, MMA, soccer and college sports.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.
