The two leading Daily Fantasy Sports firms, DraftKings and FanDuel, have had to cancel their marquee championship events held in Las Vegas following the Nevada Gaming Control Board decision to prohibit DFS sites from operating in the state without the proper licensing provisions.
It remains unclear as to whether either DraftKings or FanDuel would attempt to obtain a license in the state, with its modest population of just over 4 million. Still, Las Vegas sees thousands of additional visitors each week, a nice percentage of which likely play fantasy sports.
Participants in DraftKings 2015 Fantasy Football World Championship at the Wynn Las Vegas resort and casino were already preparing for the December 17-21 event.
FanDuel’s 2015 World Fantasy Football Championship had been scheduled to take place at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas casino resort on December 13.
It was not immediately known when or if the two events would be rescheduled and where they might take place.
A spokesman for Wynn said that the casino company called DraftKings on October 15, the same day the gambling board issued its decision, to say it could no longer host the event.
“[DraftKings] received communication from us as soon as the commission made its decision,” Wynn spokesman Michael Weaver said Thursday. “We can’t work with them in Nevada.”
– Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com