Daily Fantasy Sports World Looks Drastically Different With New NFL Season Upon Us
TRENTON, N.J. (CBS) -- As the NFL kicks off a new season the world of daily fantasy sports has changed significantly. This time last year sites like DraftKings and FanDuel launched an advertising blitz that sought to bring traditional season-long fantasy players to daily and weekly contests.
The seemingly non-stop ads got the attention of authorities who questioned the legality of the cash contests and the industry's business practices.
As a result more than a dozen states including Delaware banned pay-to-play fantasy contests.
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New York has regulated and taxed the sites and New Jersey, as well as Pennsylvania, have pending legislation.
"The most important thing for people to know is that it's not a bill that bans fantasy sports or going to make it more restrictive. It really is a consumer protection bill," says Sen Jim Whelan from Atlantic City who is sponsoring the bill.
Some of the protections include stopping wealthy players from flooding contests with multiple entries using web scripting, and prohibiting employees from the fantasy sites to play with inside information.
"To be honest it's really an unregulated industry – it's self-regulated," says Robert Bjork, CEO of DailyFandemic.com based in South Jersey.
His site allows players to see other player profiles to see if they're playing at the same level.
He says customer confidence is a bigger focus this year because of the scrutiny the fantasy industry has faced since this time last year.
"(Trust) is important especially in fantasy because sometimes you lose by a point. And if you see some scandal you're going to think 'oh yeah them guys they were cheating the whole time," says Bjork.
